Statement by US lawyer Lisa Bloom following meeting with Ofcom
My name is Lisa Bloom. I'm an American human rights attorney who's represented four women who were sexually harassed or discriminated against at 21st Century Fox. My client Wendy Walsh and I came to London to meet with Ofcom because we want the British regulator to understand the corporate governance failures at that company. We both very strongly believe that Fox should not be allowed to take full ownership of Sky.
In the meeting that just ended, I told Ofcom about the epidemic of sexual harassment and retaliation and allegations of racism rampant inside the Murdoch media empire in the US. It’s phone-hacking part two. The Murdoch media hacks, harasses and hides it with hush money.
By my count Fox News currently faces lawsuits filed by nineteen different employees alleging sexual and racial harassment and retaliation. This is after over thirteen years of dozens of women raising serious issues of sexual harassment there, and Fox News paying tens of millions of dollars to drive them out and silence them. The company is being investigated by the US government for possible crimes including hiding multimillion dollar payouts from investors and surveillance of its own employees. These numbers are truly astonishing.
As with phone hacking in the UK, this Murdoch owned company has stood by senior staff they knew had acted illegally or immorally. Bill O’Reilly, who harassed Wendy, is a perfect example. Fox knew about O’Reilly’s harassment since at least 2004 when one of his employees reportedly came forward with records of him masturbating while on the phone with her, but he remained in post until a few weeks ago -- even after a second woman in 2011 reportedly came forward with similar disgusting and demeaning tapes. And he was only let go after my brave client Wendy and I started a media firestorm, I came forward with other women, and 50 advertisers blacklisted his show. We did not ask for a penny. I worked on all of this free of charge. We told them we would not stop until he was gone. And after I came forward with my third client, they relented and fired him.
But the problem remains, because many of the executives and attorneys who enabled and covered up for these illegal acts remain in place.
I know that the UK shares our values of respecting the rights of women and people of color to equality in the workplace. A company that so openly flouts our laws and values should not be rewarded with a multibillion dollar deal that will enable it to bring its culture of sexual and racial harassment to the UK.
New cases are being filed every week. More is yet to come. Given everything we already know, let alone revelations to come, it would be irresponsible of Ofcom to let this bid through.
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Lisa Bloom and Dr. Wendy Walsh’s visit has been facilitated by the campaign group Avaaz. More than 70,000 people in the UK have signed Avaaz's petition opposing the takeover, and over 10,000 Avaaz members have written directly to Ofcom with their concerns. Campaign Director Meredith Alexander added:
“Murdoch had to drop his last bid for Sky when the world learned his reporters had hacked the phone of a murdered school girl. Five years later and it's more of the same, huge hidden payouts, bullying campaigns against sexual harassment victims plus a tidal wave of legal cases. It's clear Fox should not be allowed to take control of Sky.”
ENDS
For more information, or interview requests, please contact:
London: Alaphia Zoyab +44 7738 335 680 / alaphia@avaaz.org
New York: Will Davies +1 646 628 1210 / will@avaaz.org