An anonymously written Jan. 9 WorldNetDaily article is basically a sop to columnist and terrible lawyer Larry Klayman, detailing how a woman Klayman is representing, former Fox News executive, Laurie Luhn, “is suing Showtime for portraying her in a coming mini-series about Roger Ailes as an enabler of the late network CEO’s alleged sexual harassment of women.” The article weirdly doesn’t ask why Luhn is not suing Ailes for the things she alleges he did to her (Luhn did previously receive $3.15 million in a severance agreement).
As expected from WND, the article gets it wrong. Neither she nor Klayman have any idea how the miniseries will potray her; as an actual news outlet reported, Klayman is threatening the lawsuit as leverage in trying to get Showtime to hire Luhn as a consultant on the series to make sure she’s portrayed the way she demands.
But any hint at progressivism WND suggests by actually being critical of the man who created its favorite “news” channel is undermined by the headline: “Ex-Fox News gal sues Showtime over Roger Ailes story.”
Yes, WND called Luhn a “gal.”
This sort of sexism is, unfortunately, a pattern at WND. An Jan. 14 article by Joe Kovacs was on a much more serious and less self-serving subject: a TV reporter who was “viciously attacked during a live broadcast.” WND’s headline? “TV newsgal viciously attacked live on camera.”
This is nothing new for WND: A 2013 article, for instance, referred to a “CNN newsgal,” and a 2008 article highlighted a “TV newsgal-wannabe.”
Perhaps WND should rethink its policy of archaic casual sexism since that is likely one more reason it’s having trouble staying alive.