Fox victims' lawyer to meet Ofcom next week

Lawyer Douglas Wigdor with Fox News host Kelly Wright

I revealed on Twitter today that Douglas Wigdor, the New York lawyer who is representing over 20 of the alleged victims of sexual and racial harassment at Fox News, is to meet Ofcom next Thursday.

The key is that the timing of this Fox News scandal couldn't be worse for the Murdochs.

There are now multiple investigations unfolding over uncertain time frames, just as Ofcom deliberate whether they are suitable candidates for full ownership of Sky.

Aside from the mounting pile of lawsuits; and the Department of Justice investigation into whether or not settlement payments to alleged victims of harassment were concealed from investors; and the ongoing internal investigation at Fox News by the firm Paul Weiss, Ofcom is now being frankly bombarded by people who aren't too keen on the Murdochs.

Their central claim is that aside from the individual cases of disgusting behaviour - and not a single allegation has been proven yet, by the way - this is about an issue of corporate governance and, moreover, corporate culture.

In other words, the company tolerated appalling behaviour so long as it served their (chiefly financial) interest - but the minute it went against their pursuit of profit, individuals such as Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly and Bill Shine could be removed.

Fox say this is cobblers, and that their preparedness to remove these toxic souls shows they will act decisively to uphold standards.

That feeds into a broader narrative about supposed generational change at Fox, which I explored in a longer piece a few days ago.