Rudi Bakhtiar has spent a decade working at CNN before signing a three-year contract with Fox News Channels. She recently served as a producer for RushHourDaily and is currently working on a documentary.
Ms. Bakhtiar was a weekend correspondent for Fox News at Washington when she encountered her first sexual harassment. She was in the lobby of her Washington hotel to meet her colleague Brian Wilson, the soon to be Washington bureau chief. Wilson told her that he wanted to help her get the Washington correspondent job. He said to her ‘’You know how I feel about you, Rudi.’’ When she asked him what it meant, he replied ‘’Well, I’d like to see the inside of your hotel room.’’ She kindly declined and apologized if she had made him think that that is what she wanted.
However, after this event, Fox News Channel canceled her post in Washington. She brought this issue to the human resources and a few weeks later, she was fired by Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes. Roger Ailes told her that he was letting her go due to her performance. He told her ‘’Rudi, we’re letting you go’’. She replied, ‘’ You know very well why I’m getting let go, and it has nothing to do with my abilities. You guys came to me and sought me out,’’ and added, ‘’ This is all about what happened with Brian. You know it, and I know it.’’.
M. Ailes denied her allegations. After she had gone on mediation, she accepted a settlement in which Fox News paid her an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for her silence.
When the former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against M. Ailes, Ms. Bakhtiar decided to come forth with her experience, regardless of her prior settlement. An investigation reported ten other cases of improper behaviors involving M. Ailes. He resigned from Fox News on Thursday.
The New York Times interviews with former and current employees of Fox News Channels suggest that M. Ailes is just one part of the problem. Sexual Harassment in Fox News goes beyond him and is a chronic issue in the workplace.
‘’The Times spoke with about a dozen women who said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or intimidation at Fox News or the Fox Business Network, and half a dozen more who stated that they had witnessed it’’. The women involved, except for M. Bakhtiar, all spoke anonymously because they believe it would otherwise be detrimental to their careers.
Although Fox News has many successful females in its company, inappropriate comments about their sex life and appearances are frequent. Fox News cut off another woman from her show because she refused to go out with the producer. Another former Fox News staff members told the Times that she had seen a senior manager receiving oral sex from a junior employee. A current employee said that her supervisor told her he would assign her what she wanted in exchange for oral sex.
Ms. Bakhtiar intends to speak up and help the ongoing investigation. She said ‘’ I just feel like I shut up because I didn’t want to hurt my career. It’s awful what happened to me, and to other people, with a nod from management’’.
More information will be divulged as the investigation continues.
