According to the Hollywood Reporter, Roger Ailes is to resign as chairman and CEO of Fox News. Rupert Murdoch is to take over Ailes' responsibilities. The resignation comes after accusations of sexual harassment. It is rumoured that he will receive $40 million as he leaves, but that he will be subject to a non-compete agreement.
Ailes had been with Fox News since its founding in 1996. Prior to that, he was a Republican political consultant.
Related Stories
Various news outlets are reporting that Bill Shine has been replaced as co-president of Fox News Channel. Suzanne Scott has replaced him. In possibly related news, there are reports that 21st Century Fox, which owns Fox News Channel, is in talks with the Blackstone Group (a private equity investment firm) to purchase Tribune Media, a U.S. broadcasting chain.
In the UK, 21st Century Fox has requested permission from the government's Office of Communications to increase its ownership in Sky News; in April the network dismissed commentator Bill O'Reilly after paying out settlements in multiple sexual harassment lawsuits regarding Mr. O'Reilly.
coverage (Shine):
coverage (Tribune Media):
related story:
Fox News Chief Resigns
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @05:38PM
It was inevitable really.
Fox was his baby all the way and just look at the women he put on display in front of the camera, he definitely had a type.
There was obviously something going on.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @07:26PM
More importantly, nothing of value was lost!
(Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Saturday July 23 2016, @09:45PM
Yeah. I read one article about it and he said he hired based off "if he wanted to fuck them". Then it was complaints about skirts, shoes, and dress codes. He wanted to see the legs.
Now... I don't know about all that, but let me just place this right here [youtube.com] (first link on Google for me). Yep, there was no conspiracy to put sexy women at Fox, or ever adjust camera angles for men in the back rooms..... :D
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @09:57PM
Bleached blond. Vacuous, semi-cocked up deer-in-the-headlights look. To be fair, this seems to be rather endemic amongst Republicans. I blame Nancy Reagan. Indeed, about the only way they could possibly enhance the effect is if, each time they spoke of Reagan on air, they glowingly refer to him as "My Ronnie".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @05:44PM
Some of the top rated talent at FOX (O'Reilly, Hanity & Van Susteren) have "opt out" clauses in their contracts if Ailes leaves. Though he has a non-compete I bet FOX doesn't enforce it unless some of those listed jump ship and try to hitch their wagons to Ailes.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @06:59PM
They would never follow him anywhere. First is that those contracts are guaranteed money, anything they'd get following to somewhere else is purely speculative. Fox News has tens of millions of viewers, following him would start with zero. Any company he would start would have problems getting funding due to this giant black mark on him. And that is just the beginning. Following Ailes would, effectively, be career suicide. The most successful person who left was Glenn Beck and even though he left scandal free and in relatively good graces, his company is struggling to break even, let alone profit.
(Score: 2) by Walzmyn on Saturday July 23 2016, @07:36PM
Hannity is going to have a problem not leaving.
As far as his head is stuck up Ailes backside, it could be fatal if his body stayed and his head popped off.
of course, now that I think about it, Hannity losing his head might not change much...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @10:00PM
Some of us suspect it has already happened a while ago.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday July 23 2016, @06:16PM
Hillary chose her running mate too soon!
Ailes could have had HER in a blue dress and.......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gravis on Saturday July 23 2016, @07:23PM
And nothing of value was lost.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 23 2016, @07:38PM
I kind of agree - but - did you see the bit where Rupert Murdoch will be taking over? So, uhhhh, they get rid of a pig, and put the Head Boar in charge? Nothing that Murdoch touches can be called "clean", but if he's going to be wallowing in the filth, I guaratee things are going to get worse.
Alright, so maybe he doesn't lech the employees, like Ailes. There are thousands of ways he can make Fox worse than it already is.
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 1, Redundant) by aristarchus on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:14PM
There are thousands of ways he can make Fox worse than it already is.
Unpossible! Tell us more! How could this possibly happen?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:37PM
Murdoch embodies all of the most evil bits of conservatism that liberals fear and hate. He doesn't just dabble at evil, like your typical neoconservative. Murdock epitomizes everything that is wrong with the conservative party.
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday July 23 2016, @11:16PM
This does not answer my question. How could Murdock make it worse? It already is Fox News.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:25AM
You are many things, but I didn't think you were especially obtuse.
As bad as Fox is now, they at least pretend to be "fair and balanced". What happens if they just drop the pretense? People complain about unfair coverage now - when they go on vicious attacks on anyone and everyone who doesn't toe the party line, or whatever Murdoch thinks the party line should be, that will be a tremendous change.
Refresh your memory of the McCarthy days. Murdoch is capable of all of that, and more. And, worst of all, he has so damned much money, he can get away with almost ANYTHING.
It took an investigation into a little girl's murder in the UK to stop Murdoch from paying hackers to break into celebrity and political figure's emails and social accounts. Sure, they put their own spin on the whole issue, making it look like junior execs were responsible for all of that. BUT - those celebrities who fought, and were eventually paid off to drop charges were paid out of Murdoch's personal funds. That is, Murdoch took money out of his own pocket, not corporate coffers, to pay off the pissed off celebrities.
Then, after at least a half dozen payoffs, he has the audacity to pretend that he knew nothing of the hacking.
As things stand right now, there is a little bit of insulation between the evil emperor, and his puppet news outlet. That insulation does serve his own purposes, but it also protects Fox and the American publc from his direct meddling.
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday July 24 2016, @07:43AM
Runaway, Runaway! Did you ever get the feeling you were just out of your league here on the internets? Do you find that people misunderstand your points, and respond with points that make no sense to you? Then you might be a (tm Jeff Foxworthy) redneck. This is not meant as an insult, redneck lives matter, and some of my best friends are rednecks. However, I do not go to them for the finer points of political propaganda.
You are many things, but I didn't think you were especially obtuse.
See above. As Walt Whitman said: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."
As bad as Fox is now, they at least pretend to be "fair and balanced". What happens if they just drop the pretense?
If they stop pretending? As in, a court case for lying resulting in the Fox News organization admitting that they lie? As a matter of policy? Fairy Unbalances, and that is just the Milo/gay side of the deep closeted Republican operatives. The "dirty old man" contingent, the "Fair and Look at those gams!" side, had some more cred with the Evangelicals, the "social conservatives", the "squirrel-eating Huckabee" contingent (actually squirrel is not bad, compared to prairie jack rabbit), but they are losing even that now that the men's rights crew are all whining entitled non-conservatives and gamergaters instead of "true" conservatives.
No, the point is that there is nothing Fox News can do that is worse. Anything that they do will remove the pretense of journalism, something that has been rather transparent to most for a rather long time. And then they will be less influential, less dangerous, more like the Washington Times and Breitbart, in other words, they will become toothless right-wing nut-job websites, just on cable.
The loss of legitimacy is the one thing that can kill an alleged news organization. Fox is there. Fox is dead. No one believes anything that Fox says anymore. Trump thinks they are liars. And everyone knows Trump is a liar. So when you are nothing but a liar to liars, well, game over?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 24 2016, @11:22AM
You should study a little about propaganda. I assure you, Fox can get much worse than it is. Your attempts at mockery don't change the fact that things CAN get worse.
I wonder - do you have a stunted imagination?
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:33PM
The article says that Murdoch will serve "until a permanent CEO is named."
(Score: 2) by mendax on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:23PM
If I were a woman I would be insulted by being invited to have sex with such an ugly man. It is said that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, or so said Henry Kissinger, but Kissinger even in his extreme dotage, is better looking that Roger Ailes.
I pity Roger Ailes' wife, probably long suffering. I wonder how long she will stay with him now that the scope of his philandering has become so public.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:50PM
Googled:
Roger Ailes' wife
Informative, she fits the type and has seen this movie before (but not out in public). My guess, she sticks around while the scandal blows over and enjoys life on her allowance.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Saturday July 23 2016, @11:01PM
There wouldn't have been oxygen for Fox News if every television news outfit at the time didn't have a left-of-center tilt that reflected the NYC area. Even dry old CNN in Atlanta was copying that. The success of Rush Limbaugh's right-leaning radio show indicated there was an untapped market ready to try something new.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @01:50AM
Haven't you heard? Reality has a well-known liberal bias. Sheesh! When will people ever learn?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday July 24 2016, @03:14AM
There seems to be something about being in power or being rich that turns some mens' heads and makes them think of women as just objects. I don't know if it's the power/money itself, or something about the kind of personality who is likely to become rich and powerful, but it turns people into flaming assholes.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @04:52AM
On the flip side, there does seem to be a subset of women who are attracted to guys with money and power. Truly, the guys with power/money and their gold-digging wives/girlfriends deserve each other.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:56PM
Indeed they do, and may they make one another precisely as miserable as they deserve.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @07:07AM
Women know deep down in our hearts that we harbor the shame that Eve brought upon all mankind. As Tertullian once said (way back in the second century, so close to Jesus' time and therefore more pure),
In pain shall you bring forth children, woman, and you shall turn to your husband and he shall rule over you. And do you not know that you are Eve? God’s sentence hangs still over all your sex and His punishment weighs down upon you. You are the devil’s gateway; you are she who first violated the forbidden tree and broke the law of God. It was you who coaxed your way around him whom the devil had not the force to attack. With what ease you shattered that image of God: Man! Because of the death you merited, even the Son of God had to die... Woman, you are the gate to hell.
We see it even in the ranks of the GOP-friendly media service, Fox News. Women have infiltrated the corporate ladder, and so have infected it with sin and lust and deviousness and shameful behavior. We women are humiliated, and with good reason. Those who do not understand the source of this humiliation and shame feel anger, and in that anger lash out at men. They gather together in clubs and organizations that further the feminazi agenda. They gather together in mind and body to wear down the man in any way they can in order to do Satan's bidding - reduce mankind to a subdued, obedient pet of the Devil. It is for good reason women should stay home, where the authority of God is strong in the headship of the home (Ephesians 5:23). After all, He has a perfect plan. We just don't know it.
On behalf of all women, I apologize.