The Old Boy's Club: Bill, Roger and Donald

Yes, I have met Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes and Donald Trump. It was part of my life as a television newswoman in New York City in the '70's and '80's. The three men appear to have changed little since those days except for their increased amounts of power in business and enormous amounts of money earned. Today they are reunited in that special club of men who have been accused of sexually harassing women in their workplaces.

The media business has been a place of rampant sexual harassment for an embarrassing amount of time. And it's not the men who have been embarrassed, but the women left to deal with the consequences of their bad behavior. A woman’s choice has been to either keep what went on to herself, or speak up and risk losing her job and reputation. I should know. I was a victim of sexual harassment while in television news.

Victimized. There is no other way to describe how women feel when they are confronted at work with unwanted sexual propositions or innuendo, lewd behavior, or the subtlety of inappropriate words and actions by men.

The business of media is not alone in quietly fostering questionable environments for women. Other sectors of business, large and small, too often unofficially allow employees to sexually harass and victimize women. 

The old boys club mentality did not go out of existence with the "Madmen" era of the 50’s and 60’s. It carried over to the three high profile men, Bill, Roger and Donald, who came of age during that time and are now accused of allegedly sexually harassing women. The first to go down as a result of his apparent behavior was the former head of Fox News and long time Republican consultant, Roger Ailes. Ailes is 76 years old. Next to be outed for his outrageous behavior boasting about assaulting women on an Access Hollywood tape is Donald Trump. Months later he was elected President of the United States. Trump is 70 years old. Now it's Bill O'Reilly's turn to have his behavior toward women exposed for what it allegedly is. Disgusting. O'Reilly is 67 years old.  

All three men are friends. Trump hired Ailes as a campaign advisor after Ailes was fired by Fox. The president publicly came to O'Reilly's defense in an Oval Office interview with the New York Times describing O'Reilly as “a good person” adding, “I don’t think Bill did anything wrong,”

That's how the old boys club operates. Defend. Distract. Hire.

Millions of dollars have been paid to women who settled their cases with Fox News. $13 million was paid to women who accused O'Reilly of harassment. $20 million was paid to Gretchen Carlson formerly of Fox News.

Roger Ailes, the man who harassed Carlson and was her former boss, received $40 million as part of his “exit” package when he was fired by Fox News. And yes, millions more will be paid to Bill O'Reilly as part of his farewell financial reward. 

As for the third amigo, we'll probably never know how many claims President Donald Trump has quietly settled. It's absolutely worth quoting part of Donald Trump's 2005 recorded conversation with Access Hollywood's Billy Bush describing his actions with women:

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

“Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Money and power can buy a great deal. But not everything.

Thousands of women in every workplace where harassment is allowed to thrive receive no payment for grievances reported or kept private. It's a national outrage and tragedy. To women today I say ... Speak out. Speak up. Loudly.

Trump's Media Bashing As A Ploy

Marilyn Salenger private collection

Once Donald Trump became president, his complex relationship with the media became inseparable from the news of the day. Trump has always been a man who loved the media spotlight while at the same time being conflicted about the role it played in his life. He often courted the New York City media going so far as to plant news stories about his personal or professional life when it suited him, and the media played along when it suited them.  A rather cozy affair until it wasn't. Those days are now over.

The White House is a stage not easily played, and freedom of the press is an amendment not taken lightly in Washington, D.C. A substantial group of journalists take their work quite seriously understanding they are charged with being the eyes and ears of our country. Questions are asked that produce answers that the public has a right to know.  

Politicians may not always like the press, but most understand reporters have a job to do. As president, Trump now views that job as a target to be used without discretion whenever it works to his advantage. The issue is not what he calls fake news. It’s that he can't stand criticism or anybody looking into his business. So media bashing is part of Trump’s play of the day.

What began on the campaign trail as a way to rev up his audiences, has translated to a declaration of a White House war on the media. His overt and very public disdain for journalists reached a peak when he called them "the enemy of the people". That’s a statement generally reserved for tyrants.

Trump purposely and strategically plants seeds of distrust with the words he uses in his rants against reporters. It's a sad and rather pathetic maneuver if it wasn't so dangerous. It’s become another weapon in his arsenal of distractions from the real substance at hand.

No matter whether it’s global conflicts or congressional investigations, the president remains committed to distraction and making headlines via his new favorite form of media, Twitter. At a news conference last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump talked about how he can use Twitter to his advantage saying, "I can get around the media when they don't tell the truth. I like that".    

The "truth" according to Trump is not, however, always the truth. He's no longer operating behind the closed doors of Trump Tower, but in the very public house that belongs to all of us. And we're not as dumb as some may think us to be.

According to a newly released report by Pew Research Center, Americans feel that the current relationship between Trump and the news media is hindering their access to political news. It's apparently not making people happy or feeling reassured, and these views cross almost every demographic group:

Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans feel the relationship between Trump and the news media is unhealthy and that the ongoing tensions are impeding Americans’ access to important political news. 88% of Democrats say the relationship is unhealthy, as do 78% of Republicans.

If nobody else in Washington is crossing party lines, it's important to know the public is, at least for now, taking the lead. That's the most reassuring news I've heard in a while.