A friendly profile of Martha MacCallum in The Hollywood Reporter failed to note the likelihood that she was chosen to interview Brett Kavanaugh thanks to her history of taking a stand on behalf of Roger Ailes when he was accused of sexual harassment at Fox News.
Author Marisa Guthrie, who wrote a shockingly rosy and credulous profile of Roger Ailes one year before he was ousted over his predatory behavior, was just as credulous about MacCallum’s behavior during the sexual harassment scandals. From the THR profile:
MacCallum's ascension came in the wake of misconduct allegations that brought down O'Reilly and network founder Roger Ailes. But, she says, Fox News is in a "better place," after a leadership change that included the promotion of Suzanne Scott to CEO. "At the time, people were quick to point fingers and say, 'How could you not know?'" MacCallum recalls. "And now I've watched the sisterhood at these different networks go through similar things, where they also felt shocked and defensive about the people who were being accused. [Now] they know what we went through."
I have no reason to doubt that MacCallum was indeed “shocked and defensive” about the sexual harassment claims. But her behavior was something else. After numerous women had reportedly accused Ailes of sexual misconduct, MacCallum joined other female Fox hosts in defending him to Mediaite:
"Roger is such a terrific boss,” mused MacCallum. “I don’t like to see anything that reflects negatively on him. If anything, [Carlson’s lawsuit] sort of bonded us. It’s brought people together.”
One thing they all seemed united on was their handling of the other women who have spoken out against Ailes in the past few days. MacCallum simply said, “I don’t know those other women,” while Earhardt said, “I don’t even know any of those people.”
Some of those “other women” we now know are then-hosts Megyn Kelly and Alisyn Camerota. Other hosts and contributors who have filed complaints of harassment at Fox include Andrea Tantaros, Julie Roginsky, Tamara Holder, and Lis Wiehl. Bill Schulz, a former cohost of the late-night show, Red Eye, tweeted, ‘WE ALL KNEW’ about sexual harassment.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say MacCallum really didn’t know. According to Carlson, whose bombshell lawsuit led to Ailes’ eventual ouster, MacCallum never apologized for publicly denigrating the allegations.
Guthrie didn’t mention any of that in her profile. Nor did she seem to consider that MacCallum was likely chosen as the interviewer for Brett Kavanaugh precisely because of her past behavior. Even though Guthrie noted that the White House communications office had offered MacCallum “the only interview” with then-Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh. Also not noted by Guthrie? The White House communications office happens to be headed by former Fox News co-president Bill Shine who was reportedly an enabler of Ailes’ predations.
And, surprise! MacCallum’s past behavior turned out to be a predictor of her treatment of Kavanaugh.
That didn’t get into the profile, either. Guthrie wrote that the interview “earned MacCallum, 54, near-universal praise — even from left-leaning critics expecting only softballs from a Fox News anchor for President Trump's nominee.”
Watch MacCallum’s sham interview of Kavanaugh and his wife below, from the September 24, 2018 The Story with Martha MacCallum.
(MacCallum image via screen grab)