Since the news broke Monday night that Roger Ailes’ name would be stripped from the walls outside a WOUB newsroom in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, the internet has been abuzz about the story.
Major national news outlets such as CNN Money, Politico, The Huffington Post and NBC have picked up the story, and message boards are sharing and discussing the news.
In case you missed it, here's the gist: In recent months, more than 20 women have accused former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, an OU alumnus and former WOUB staffer, of sexual harassment. Last week, Fox settled with a former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson in the amount of $20 million. Since then, there was pressure on OU officials to sever ties with Ailes.
Erik Wemple, an opinion writer for the Washington Post, posted about the controversy in mid-August, when he called Ailes a “towering, predatory, paranoid, sexist creep.” He added that removing the plaque should have been a simple task.
On Monday, riffing off of President Roderick McDavis’ official statement about removing Ailes’ name, Wemple wrote “any other decisions would be recklessly out of alignment with any principled belief whatsoever.”
WOUB itself isn’t shying away from the subject now that it is seemingly resolved. From its official Twitter:
When your newsroom is the news... #Respect #Journalism #PublicMedia pic.twitter.com/Dzh0pV7eTP
— WOUB News (@woubnews) September 13, 2016
The story is still rolling on Facebook, and Twitter at-large seems, at least, intrigued. A search for “Roger Ailes newsroom” reveals a healthy feed of people sharing coverage of the story.
Here's how OU reacted:
President Roderick McDavis announces at OU Faculty Senate that Roger Ailes name will be removed from WOUB newsroom. Thank You! #AilesGone
— Yusuf Kalyango (@scrippsiij) September 12, 2016
I applaud this decision. Time to move on. https://t.co/DDh9rE22d4
— profstewartrk (@profstewartrk) September 13, 2016
You’ll also find commentary similar to the following:
.@ohiou be my alma mater. Much Bobcat pride and respect for McDavis, including w/ this Ailes decision: https://t.co/h29zY3yRu7
— Elizabeth Willy (@ewillywrites) September 14, 2016
Butt hurt liberal schools. Remember how much theyd go after everything they considered a racial connotation??: https://t.co/IArbpJ3UhW
— Britton George (@BuckeyeSquadron) September 14, 2016
And this — a perhaps under-discussed aspect of the narrative:
Don't brag too much Ohio University. To remove Roger Ailes' name from your newsroom means somebody named it after him in the first place
— Political Riff (@PoliticalRiff) September 14, 2016
