Gretchen Carlson: Pocketbook Hit Forced Fox News Changes

Gretchen Carlson

At an Advertising Week panel on Tuesday, former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson complimented the advertising community for its ability to influence workplace culture at her former employer but said she hopes one day a hit to the pocketbook won’t be the only reason companies decide to make changes.

“Not to be pessimistic about it, but it can be upsetting that it takes a movement by advertisers to actually evoke change,” Carlson said. “When it comes to company culture, we should be at the point that if things are known, then the company decides to take the action before they’re feeling pressure by the outside world to do something.”

AdWeek reports Carlson’s comments were in reference to a question about the mass exodus of national advertisers from Fox News’s former No. 1 program, The O’Reilly Factor, earlier this year after an explosive New York Times article revealed that Bill O’Reilly and Fox News paid $13 million to five women who accused the star of harassment.

Carlson's backstory is well known to those who work in or cover the media. The former Fox News anchor left the network after her contract expired in July 2016 and would go on to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the late co-founder and chairman Roger Ailes over her termination.

Carlson eventually received a settlement of $20 million and an apology after the lawsuit and ensuing scandal.

Carlson also plugged her upcoming book Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back, in which she lays out “a playbook for women to know what to do if they happen to find themselves in a harassment situation in the workplace.” The book hits shelves on Oct. 17.