Bill O’Reilly’s departure from Fox News is being touted as a victory against the vitriolic reporting of the network. After multiple sexual harassment lawsuits against the cable anchorman became public, sponsors began pulling ads from the show to the point that Fox leadership decided to cut their losses and dismiss O’Reilly. But will that move actually change anything about Fox News?

“The O’Reilly Factor” was an incredibly popular program and producers scrambled to fill the profitable 8 p.m. weekday time slot that draws almost 4 million viewers each night. Tucker Carlson has been chosen from the Fox News bench to fill O’Reilly’s shoes. While he might not have the same popularity or fame as O’Reilly, Carlson’s dismissive views of women hardly make him a departure from the O’Reilly Factor era. For those who don’t regularly tune in to Fox News, Carlson is best known for his program “Crossfire”–which Jon Stewart famously tore to pieces in 2004. This year, Carlson replaced Megyn Kelly after her decision to leave Fox–so it would appear that Carlson is making a habit of replacing more popular hosts.

O’Reilly may be leaving Fox in disgrace, but the moral judgment passed on him does not translate into financial ruin. O’Reilly is receiving a $25 million payout upon his exit, a far greater sum than any of the women who sued him received, which is equal to one year of his salary. He will no doubt be invited to speak on cable news shows and on the lecture circuit, and already has a book deal to further augment his income.

Other media outlets might have taken O’Reilly’s departure as an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to reform. Fox News could have hired outside of its existing anchor network, a true break from tradition. Even once the executives decided to hire in-house, they could have gone with a candidate with more experience with O’Reilly’s viewers–like host Laura Ingraham, who filled in for O’Reilly on multiple occasions. Ingraham tows the party line at Fox so hiring her would guarantee viewer retention while simultaneously serving as a gesture of respect towards female anchors at the network.

After Megyn Kelly’s departure, which O’Reilly reportedly contributed to, Fox had a chance to step back and address the pervasive sexism that female staff have faced at the network–a chance executives did not take. Representative Maxine Waters, who was personally attacked by O’Reilly, went so far as to call Fox News a “sexual harassment enterprise.” By appointing Carlson, the Fox team has only reaffirmed the culture O’Reilly and Roger Ailes built together at Fox. The window dressing might change, but the 8 p.m. weekday slot–and Fox News as a whole–will be the same, whether or not O’Reilly is at the helm.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

The post Why Bill O’Reilly’s Departure Won’t Change Fox appeared first on Law Street.

Hashtag of the day: today is #GroundhogDay! Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his own shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. But as last year was the warmest on record and global warming is still a fact, spring-like weather may actually be on its way. Read on for our rants of the day:

Welcome to RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through today’s top five controversial stories in the world of law and policy. Who’s ranting and raving right now? Check it out below:

Trump Rattles Relationships With Australia and Iran

President Donald Trump is not on the best terms with Iran or Australia right now. Yesterday Iran said it had test-fired some new missiles, which the White House was not happy to hear. Currently, per a 2015 U.N. resolution, Iran is not allowed to develop any nuclear weapons. But Iran claims it was only testing regular missiles without any nuclear powers, the same kind of test it has performed several times since the resolution went into effect. The U.S. disagrees, claiming that Iran did violate the resolution with these tests. This was also the first test performed since Trump took office and one of his campaign promises was to stop Iran’s missile program. So his national security adviser Michael Flynn said, “As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.” He gave no indication of what “on notice” means.

Flynn delivers stern warning to Iran for recent weapon testing, saying the U.S. is putting the country “on notice.” https://t.co/lQ7rETgsXp pic.twitter.com/69i7FDzzGE

— ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2017

Yesterday it was also reported that Trump’s Saturday phone call with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was no walk in the park. Trump allegedly told the U.S. ally’s leader that he had talked to several international leaders that day already but that their exchange was “the worst call by far.” The two leaders clashed over a previous agreement between the two countries that the U.S. will take 1,250 refugees from Australian detention centers, something that Trump reportedly didn’t know about. In a tweet yesterday he called the refugees “illegal immigrants” and the deal “dumb.”

Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post RantCrush Top 5: February 2, 2017 appeared first on Law Street.

Journalist Lauren Duca appeared in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News on Friday, discussing the harassment of Ivanka Trump on an airplane, and the conversation soon turned into a heated debate. Carlson had brought Duca on to question her about one of her tweets that seemed to defend the man who shouted at Ivanka Trump. But when asked, Duca explained that she did not defend the action, she just thought that Trump’s children should not be exempt from scrutiny just because they are young, beautiful and, in the case of Ivanka, looks like she “smells good.”

Ivanka Trump is poised to become the most powerful woman in the world. Don’t let her off the hook because she looks like she smells good.

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 23, 2016

But Carlson seemed to not accept Duca’s assurance that they did have the same opinion about the specific incident. Instead, he kept repeating his stance that Duca approved of shouting at people on airplanes, interrupted her, and talked over her. Finally he said, “stick to the thigh-high boots. You’re better at that,” and ended the segment while Duca was still talking. That last bit was a reference to Duca’s job at Teen Vogue. After the interview aired, many people hailed her as a hero and feminist role model for standing up to the male news anchor. But soon, the online threats started pouring in. Men hiding behind their computer screens started sending her emails and tweets with rape threats.

Messages like this — positioning sexual assault as a means of keeping women in line — make me want to fight even harder. pic.twitter.com/gtvMGQ9cpx

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016

The threats peaked on Christmas Day. Duca said it was especially discouraging that many people, and even websites, claimed that she had defended the man harassing Ivanka, when she had explicitly said the opposite. She said she tried to discuss it with one of them, but he only answered “get raped” and was clearly not interested in a conversation. But she received a whole lot of support, too, and her number of Twitter followers had doubled by Tuesday afternoon, to over 104,000.

OK, good night @GeorgeTakei and everyone else pic.twitter.com/CMKd2zCPNn

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 27, 2016

The rape threats are truly challenging my faith in humanity, but this makes it all feel worth it. Love trumps hate. pic.twitter.com/DiIZAcFNOQ

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 25, 2016

And she had a message for the people harassing others online:

Harassment is a theft of social capital via time & energy. It’s exhausting and wholly unethical. It will also never be enough to silence me.

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 28, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Lauren Duca Receives Online Threats After Tucker Carlson Interview appeared first on Law Street.

Christmas Prison Break: Six Inmates Escape Through the Toilet

Early Christmas morning, six inmates at a Tennessee jail made a run for it and escaped through a broken toilet. Police captured five of them pretty quickly, but one is still on the loose. David Wayne Frazier is considered the most dangerous escapee and was imprisoned for aggravated robbery and possession of a weapon.

The unusual escape was made possible by a water leak behind a toilet that had damaged the surrounding concrete wall and bolts. The men were able to simply remove the toilet and crawl out through the hole in the wall, according to the Cocke County Sheriff’s office. At least the men got a little bit of freedom on Christmas.

They were able to unscrew and remove the toilet’s bolts, exposing a hole big enough for them to wiggle through https://t.co/oiK4LzvgoA

— New York Post (@nypost) December 26, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post RantCrush Top 5: December 27, 2016 appeared first on Law Street.

Welcome to RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through today’s top five controversial stories in the world of law and policy. Who’s ranting and raving right now? Check it out below:

Donald Trump’s Controversial Stance on Crimea

Here goes Trump, not understanding world politics….again. Yesterday on “This Week”  Trump firmly stated that there was no possibility that Russian president Vladimir Putin would ever enter Ukraine, seeming to ignore the fact that Russia has already seized the territory. When George Stephanopoulos asked  “Well, he’s already there, isn’t he?” Trump seemed confused and backtracked, saying that the area was a mess because of Obama and NATO. Stephanpoulos asked him if he would consider the possibility of recognizing Russia’s claim over Crimea and he replied “I’m going to take a look at it. But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”

This response mystified many and infuriated some, including the Ukranian Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, who referred to him as a “dangerous fringe politician” and the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseny Yatsenuk, who claimed that Trump was ” violating ethical and civilizational principles.”

Rant Crush

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