2 Tough Headlines for Fox News

Bad news in the ratings department and the lawsuit department
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 23, 2017 10:30 AM CDT
2 Tough Headlines for Fox News
In this April 19, 2017, file photo, a security guard looks out of the News Corp. headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.   (Mary Altaffer)

Tuesday isn't shaping up to be a great news day for Fox News. Harassment lawsuits and sinking ratings are both making headlines:

  • Three new lawsuits filed Monday allege racial discrimination or sexual harassment at Fox News, deepening the network's legal woes, the AP reports. The cases increase to 23 the number of past or present Fox employees represented by attorney Doug Wigdor, the majority having cases alleging racial hostility by a since-fired financial executive. Two of the suits have to do with that executive; the third was filed by a Fox News Radio employee who says she was sexually harassed by a co-worker whose behavior was allowed to continue despite many complaints.

  • Last week, Fox News saw its longest streak—five consecutive days—ranked third place in cable news prime-time ratings in the 25-54 demographic since the year 2000, Mediaite reports. MSNBC and CNN beat out Fox Monday through Friday. Fox typically leads the ratings in every time slot, but Mediaite and CNNMoney's Reliable Sources note that the loss of Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly's departure, and other prime-time rejiggering have caused the network's ratings to suffer. "It's not a sea change. Not yet," Reliable Sources notes. "Fox is still #1 for both total day and prime time in the month of May, beating CNN and MSNBC. ... But it is cause for alarm."
(More Fox News stories.)

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