自福克斯新聞接連爆出性騷擾丑聞以來(lái)，21世紀(jì)福克斯的幕后大佬，也就是公司的創(chuàng)始人、億萬(wàn)富翁魯伯特·默多克和他的兩個(gè)兒子詹姆斯和拉克蘭或許以為，只要讓福克斯新聞的董事長(zhǎng)兼CEO羅杰·艾爾斯卷鋪蓋走人，他們就能遏止住鋪天蓋地而來(lái)的負(fù)面新聞。然而艾爾斯辭職之后，關(guān)于福克斯的負(fù)面報(bào)道不減反增，甚至還爆出了一些更詭異的猛料

據(jù)《名利場(chǎng)》（Vanity Fair）雜志報(bào)道，21世紀(jì)福克斯公司目前正在與律師商討如何與福克斯新聞的前主播格雷琴·卡爾森就性騷擾一案達(dá)成和解。據(jù)消息人士透露，這筆和解費(fèi)可能將高達(dá)8位數(shù)。

更不同尋常的是，據(jù)稱21世紀(jì)福克斯公司還要求艾爾斯本人至少要拿出部分和解費(fèi)。該雜志還稱，此次21世紀(jì)福克斯在與律師討論過(guò)程中還談到了一個(gè)問(wèn)題，那就是據(jù)說(shuō)有多名女性持有與艾爾斯發(fā)生口角的錄音。如果卡爾森提起的性騷擾訴訟進(jìn)入庭審程序，這些錄音就可能會(huì)被公開，因此無(wú)論是艾爾斯還是福克斯公司都想盡力避免這種情況發(fā)生。

這些錄音帶并不是艾爾斯性騷擾丑聞里的唯一一枚“定時(shí)炸彈”。有五六名匿名人士曾對(duì)CNN記者迪蘭·拜爾斯和NPR記者大衛(wèi)·弗肯弗里克透露，多名福克斯新聞的員工曾表示，他們擔(dān)心艾爾斯也在對(duì)他們的電話進(jìn)行秘密錄音，或是用跟蹤等方法監(jiān)控他們的行蹤。

一位之前的同事告訴我，艾爾斯用攝像頭監(jiān)控了福克斯的新聞編輯室。還有一人稱，他的私人郵件曾被人閱讀過(guò)。詳見(jiàn)https://t.co/G9VyFImFHF

——大衛(wèi)·弗肯弗里克（Twitter賬號(hào)：@davidfolkenflik），2016年8月9日

這樣的報(bào)道乍聽(tīng)起來(lái)相當(dāng)匪夷所思，然而事實(shí)上，曾擔(dān)任過(guò)美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)尼克松的顧問(wèn)的艾爾斯是個(gè)相當(dāng)偏執(zhí)的人，他經(jīng)常公開談及恐怖分子怎樣把他當(dāng)成了目標(biāo)，欲將他除之而后快。他的辦公室簡(jiǎn)直像個(gè)防空洞一樣，監(jiān)視攝像頭記錄了所有來(lái)客的情況，辦公室還專門安裝了一扇巨大的防彈玻璃窗。

不僅如此，《紐約》雜志的加布里埃爾·謝爾曼近日還報(bào)道稱，艾爾斯手底下有一支“特工團(tuán)隊(duì)”，專門負(fù)責(zé)用陰謀詭計(jì)把和他不對(duì)付的記者以及其他人等搞倒搞臭。艾爾斯的“黑名單”上就有謝爾曼本人，以及Gawker網(wǎng)的編輯約翰·庫(kù)克等，后者還曾被跟蹤過(guò)。

謝爾曼表示，他的消息人士告訴他，艾爾斯還利用福克斯新聞的預(yù)算雇傭了一批顧問(wèn)、政治探子和私家偵探，這幫人只向艾爾斯一人報(bào)告工作，他們平時(shí)就在福克斯總部大樓的專門一個(gè)樓層的一間所謂“小黑屋”里工作。其中一名顧問(wèn)在被解聘之前，主要負(fù)責(zé)為艾爾斯的敵人制造負(fù)面的公關(guān)危機(jī)。

格雷琴·卡爾森就福克斯新聞CEP羅杰·艾爾斯對(duì)其性騷擾一事提起訴訟。

這些地下行動(dòng)并非只瞄準(zhǔn)了知名記者。CNN記者布萊恩·斯泰爾特十年前還在上大學(xué)時(shí)，曾經(jīng)辦過(guò)一個(gè)叫“新聞人”（Newser）的博客。當(dāng)時(shí)他和一個(gè)在福克斯新聞工作的女孩談過(guò)一陣戀愛(ài)，結(jié)果卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個(gè)女孩竟然是艾爾斯和他的情報(bào)網(wǎng)絡(luò)派人來(lái)監(jiān)視他的。

一名福克斯的高管對(duì)《紐約》雜志表示：“（我們的）文化就是那樣，你不能問(wèn)問(wèn)題，羅杰也不歡迎你問(wèn)問(wèn)題。”另一名消息人士指出，福克斯公司每年為默多克家族帶來(lái)的利潤(rùn)超過(guò)了10億美元，因此不管公司要為艾爾斯的性騷擾案掏多少和解費(fèi)，也不管公司每年要花多少錢養(yǎng)幾個(gè)私家偵探，對(duì)默多克家族來(lái)說(shuō)都只是九牛一毛，沒(méi)什么可擔(dān)心的。

隨著艾爾森性騷擾案的受害人數(shù)不斷增加，影響持續(xù)發(fā)酵，有些觀察人士表示，這或許說(shuō)明默多克家族對(duì)公司的管理出了問(wèn)題。在艾爾斯的任期內(nèi)，福克斯公司養(yǎng)成了這種性騷擾文化以及彌漫公司上下的恐懼氣氛，對(duì)此，默多克家族恐怕難辭其咎。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

The powers that be at 21st Century Fox—that is, billionaire founder Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan—may have hoped that by cutting former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes loose after a string of sexual harassment allegations, they could stem the flow of negative news. Instead, it has only intensified, and in some cases become even more bizarre.

According to?Vanity Fair,?21st Century Fox??FOX?-0.19%??is?currently in discussions with lawyers?for former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson about a settlement of her sexual harassment case—a settlement that sources say could be in the eight-figure range.

Even more unusual, the company is reportedly asking Ailes to fund at least part of the settlement. And one of the issues in the discussion, the magazine says, is the existence of a number of audio tapes that were recorded by multiple women who had run-ins with Ailes. If the Carlson lawsuit goes to trial, those tapes become public, something Ailes and Fox would likely want to avoid.

Those tapes aren’t the only potential time-bomb ticking inside the Ailes story. A significant number of Fox News employees?said they were afraid that?Ailes was also secretly tape-recording their phone calls or monitoring their behavior in other ways, including having them followed, according to half a dozen anonymous sources who spoke with CNN’s Dylan Byers and NPR’s David Folkenflik.

One ex-associate told me Ailes monitored Fox newsrooms with video cameras. Another said his private emails were readhttps://t.co/G9VyFImFHF

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik)?August 9, 2016

Such reports might seem outlandish, except for the fact that Ailes—a former advisor to President Richard Nixon—was notoriously paranoid, talking often about how he was being targeted by terrorists. His office was bunker-like, with a camera that recorded all of those coming and going, and a huge bomb-proof window that had to specially installed.

Not only that, but?New York?magazine’s Gabriel Sherman reported recently that the chairman had a team of operatives who?ran a series of dirty-tricks campaigns?against journalists and others who crossed him. The list included Sherman himself and Gawker editor John Cook, who was followed.

Sherman said his sources told him that Ailes used the Fox News budget to hire consultants, political operatives, and private investigators who reported only to him and worked in a so-called “Black Room” on a special floor of Fox headquarters. One consultant, who has since been dismissed, was hired to cook up negative PR campaigns against enemies of Ailes.

Gretchen Carlson is suing Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.

And these campaigns weren’t only targeted at established journalists. While CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter was a university student running the Newser blog a decade ago,?he dated a woman?who worked at Fox News and turned out to be spying on him for Ailes and the network.

“It was the culture,” one Fox executive told?New York. “You didn’t ask questions, and Roger wouldn’t entertain questions.” Another source?said that since Fox made more than?$1 billion in annual profit for the Murdoch family, any money used to settle sexual harassment claims or pay off investigators was seen as “a rounding error” and therefore not worth worrying about.

As the range and number of Ailes’ alleged transgressions have continued to grow, some observers say it raises questions about the Murdoch family’s oversight of the company, and whether they are partially to blame for the culture of harassment and fear he unleashed on the company during his tenure.