Fox News Fires James Rosen For Alleged Sexual Harassment
Fox News fired its chief Washington correspondent James Rosen weeks ago for alleged sexual harassment, but has not bothered to tell its viewers.
An NPR article today revealed Rosen’s former colleagues said he had “an established pattern of flirting aggressively with many peers and had made sexual advances toward three female Fox News journalists, including two reporters and a producer.”
Though Fox News acknowledged Rosen’s departure last month, no reasons for it were offered and it has not been mentioned on the air. Rosen had worked for Fox News for 18 years.
Rosen’s firing follows in the wake of the resignations of other top Fox News officials and personalities due to sexual misconduct, beginning with the network’s CEO Roger Ailes.
The network also parted ways with Bill O’Reilly, its top-rated prime time host for two decades, just after signing him to a $25 million a year contract as a result of a New York Times investigation that revealed 21st Century Fox had paid millions of dollars to settle sexual harassment claims against O’Reilly.
Another Fox News Channel personality to lose a job was Eric Bolling, a host on the now-canceled The Specialists and a former co-host on The Five, who was fired after a Huffington Post article alleged that he sent lewd text messages to female colleagues at Fox News and Fox Business.
Fox News offered minimal coverage of O’Reilly’s departure and little more on Ailes.
That does not mean Fox News Channel has not covered the avalanche of sexual harassment and misconduct revelations that have occurred in Hollywood, politics, and business.
Fox News offered almost hourly coverage of the allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein after they surfaced in October.
A Chicago Tribune article noted the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters measured Fox News’ coverage of the allegations against Weinstein with its coverage of the O’Reilly allegations and found that in the three weeks after the Weinstein allegations surfaced, Fox News had offered 12 hours of coverage, compared to 20 minutes of coverage of O’Reilly in six months after the publication of the New York Times article.
The accusations against Rosen are similar to those against O’Reilly in that both men allegedly sexually harassed women and then retaliated against the women after they were rejected.
The NPR investigation alleged that Rosen groped a female Fox News reporter and grabbed her breast during a 2001 cab ride. After she said no, Rosen tried to steal her national security and diplomacy sources and stories, according to the report.
A second NPR allegation indicated that Rosen sexually harassed a female producer who was then given a plum assignment by Fox News in exchange for not going public with her complaint.
A third accusation against Rosen involved his alleged attempt to forcibly kiss a younger female reporter. Another colleague told NPR that Rosen attempted to obtain the woman’s silence by offering her more time on Special Report with Bret Baier.
