Possible Settlement in O'Reilly-Mackris Case
Reported by Marie Therese - October 24, 2004 -
Fri October 22, 2004 9:05 PM GMT-04:00 By Jeanne King
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Fox News Channel commentator Bill O'Reilly and a female co-worker who has accused him of sexual harassment are in negotiations to settle their dispute out of court, sources familiar with the case said on Friday.
"Talks are ongoing," one source told Reuters.
Another added, "Anytime there is litigation there is always talk. Does that surprise you? Do you think they are going to all this trouble to go to trial?"
Andrea Mackris, an associate producer for "The O'Reilly Factor," sued the talk show host last Wednesday claiming he had repeatedly pressured her to engage in sexually explicit conversations over the phone, talking about vibrators and masturbation and pleasuring himself at times as he spoke.
Anticipating the complaint, O'Reilly already filed his own suit earlier that day, accusing Mackris and her lawyer, Benedict Morelli, of trying to extort $60 million in "hush money" from him by threatening to go public with false allegations of sexual harassment. (End of excerpt.)
To read the rest of the article go to Settlement Sought in O'Reilly Case, Sources Say.
MediaLife reports that during the three days after the announcement of the lawsuit on October 13th, The O'Reilly Factor's ratings jumped substantially. Their report notes: "A better sense of that will emerge this week. After a few days of tormented comment, O'Reilly is now saying he's not going to discuss the Mackris suit and his counter-suit, and he's even canceled a book tour for a children's book he's written. That should drive off many if not most of the purely prurient."
"But as it was, last week's viewer surge helped the already strong Fox News Channel to a second-place finish in primetime on ad-supported cable.
"For Thursday and Monday, the 8 p.m. nightly "O'Reilly Factor" was up 12 percent in 18-34s, from 143,000 to 160,000, 38 percent in 18-49s, from 520,000 to 717,000, up 43 percent in 25-54s, from 685,000 to 977,000, up 39 percent in total viewers, from 2.39 million to 3.32 million, and up 36 percent in households, from 1.79 million to 2.43 million. All numbers are compared with "O'Reilly's" third-quarter average.
"Fox News finished the week ended Oct. 17 at No. 2 behind ESPN in primetime households, with an average of 1.68 million. That was almost double CNN's average of 882,000, which placed that network No. 10.
"Leading the way for Fox News was its coverage of last Wednesday's third and final presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry and the post-debate analysis show. The two shows ranked No. 2 and N0. 3 in the week's rankings, behind only ESPN's "Sunday Night Football."
"For O'Reilly, the guiding question is how well he handles the Mackris controversy going forward. On his side is the election season, which means lots of news to chew over in favor of things best left unsaid. Also, it would appear that whatever dirt was due to come out that's damaging to his side has already hit the headlines. If anything, stories will now start coming out about Mackris, putting her on the defensive." (End of excerpt.)
(Ratings information for the period since October 18th is not yet available.)
Several of the online stories regarding this possible settlement indicate that, in the event Ms. Mackris has tapes of Mr. O'Reilly, they will be destroyed.
The MediaLife story above ends with the suggestion that Mr. O'Reilly may find himself embroiled yet again with Mr. Franken:
"But a haunting passage from the Mackris suit suggests O'Reilly may have trouble keeping his distance from the controversy. It's a passage relating to Al Franken, the leftie comic who savaged O'Reilly in his book on conservative chatters.
"It reveals a man who holds deep grudges and darker thoughts. Speaking of Franken, he's quoted as saying: 'Bam! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming. Look at Al Franken, one day he's going to get a knock at his door and life as he's known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.'" (End of excerpt.)
Comment
With regard to the destruction of the tapes, I would imagine that Mr. Fanken's attorneys will petition the court to keep them intact, at least until they can determine whether or not Mr. O'Reilly's inflammatory statements regarding Mr. Franken are grounded in fact or not.
Whatever the situation, the legal chess game is afoot! None of the online articles on this topic reveal which side is leaking information about the settlement or why.
One curious thing that we News Hounds have noticed since last Monday is that teaser ads for FOX's evening lineup, which in the past have always included The O'Reilly Factor, stopped mentioning the show.
For months FOX has run the same teaser for their evening shows, usually with the words "Only one network has the number one primetime lineup" followed by mention of The Factor, Hannity & Colmes and On the Record.
I first noticed the change on last Monday's Big Story with John Gibson. As the result of an informal News Hounds survey, we've determined the following:
Monday-Wednesday, October 18th-October 20: No mention of O'Reilly's show in primetime teasers during Big Story with John Gibson. There were a couple of teasers for upcoming interviews on The Factor but these were not included in the "primetime lineup" promo.
Thursday, October 21st: No mention of the O'Reilly Factor in teasers for primetime lineup during the shows Fox News Live, Dayside with Linda Vester, Your World with Neil Cavuto, at the end of David Asman's show and Big Story with John Gibson. The teasers continued to plug Hannity & Colmes and On the Record.
Friday, October 22nd: The same situation occurred during the same shows, expanded to include Fox & Friends. There was a teaser on FOXNews.com plugging an O'Reilly story entitled "Debate: Did John Kerry Hinder Pres. Reagan's Progress?"
It doesn't make a lot of sense to stop promoting a show that presumably has just seen a big spike in viewership. In fact,it would make better business sense to trumpet that news hither and yon.
Perhaps there is some other reason for the change?
