Former Fox News staffers are demanding to be released from non-disclosure agreements following similar demands from former NBC staffers sparked by Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill. Farrow’s book alleges NBC prevented him from reporting on Harvey Weinstein in an effort to stop allegations against Matt Lauer from surfacing. NBCUniversal, NBC’s parent company, relented to the NDA demands last week and announced that former staffers could contact the company to be released from any “perceived obligation” that they cannot speak about workplace sexual harassment. In light of that announcement, former Fox News employees are looking to gain a similar assurance.
At least six former employees at the conservative network have called to be released from NDAs. Among them is Gretchen Carlson, the first woman at Fox News to file a lawsuit against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes alleging sexual harassment. “All women at Fox News and beyond forced to sign NDAs should be released from them immediately, giving them back the voices they deserve,” Carlson told Vanity Fair. “... Because of our NDAs, we can never say what is factually correct or incorrect about what happened to us at Fox.”