Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson triggered a massive media upheaval in July 2016 at Fox News when she claimed in a lawsuit that she was fired for refusing sexual advances from network head Roger Ailes, who left the two weeks after her allegation went public.
In April 2017, a New York Times report found that Fox News had paid out settlements totaling $13 million to five women who had accused longtime anchor Bill O'Reilly of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse. O'Reilly denied the allegations, but the show bled advertisers before it was canceled weeks later.
Elsewhere at the top networks, former NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer was fired in 2017 after NBC said an employee accused him of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace" amid a flurry of reports detailed other allegations of sexual misconduct, including making lewd comments to female colleagues, exposing himself, and using a security device to close women in his office with him.
"CBS This Morning" co-host Charlie Rose was fired by CBS and PBS in November 2017, one day after The Washington Post published a story that detailed allegations from multiple women who accused Rose of groping and other unwanted sexual advances.
The revelations appeared to be long overdue, and provoked an array of criticism concerning the overall makeup of the industry.
In October 2017, the "shitty media men" spreadsheet went viral, when women could anonymously post their experiences with various men in the industry.
"What #MeToo Means for Corporate America," a 2018 study by workplace thinktank the Center for Talent Innovation, found that about 41% of women in media and entertainment say they've been sexually harassed by a colleague or boss at some point in their careers, which Variety reported was the highest rate among white-collar industries.
"In media, the power dynamics are more skewed than in other industries," Ripa Rashid, a lead author of the study, told the outlet, adding that media's relationship-driven nature and silos of money and power lend to abuse by powerful figures.