Fox News founder and CEO Roger Ailes was confirmed to be leaving the network on Thursday by parent company 21st Century Fox, although he may soon have another gig lined up.
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Ailes “has resigned from his role effective immediately”, according to a statement from parent company 21st Century Fox.
The resignation comes just over two weeks after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson accused Ailes of sexual harassment, though Ailes has strongly denied the allegations, claiming they were retaliatory for the network’s decision not to renew her contract.
Murdoch, in announcing Ailes resignation, praised his remarkable contributions to the company saying: “Roger shared my vision of a great and independent television organisation and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years”.
In addition to the complaint presented by Carlson, this week Fox News channel anchor Megyn Kelly, who on July 12 said she had also been the victim of “unwanted sexual advances” by Ailes approximately 10 years ago.
Murdoch made no reference to these accusations or to the alleged ultimatum presented by the company to Ailes in the statement released on Thursday.
Under his leadership, Fox became home to key conservative political commentators, drawing an audience distinct from rivals CNN and MSNBC.
As sexual harassment allegations continued to mount against Ailes, reports soon began to surface that Ailes had begun negotiating his departure from the 21st Century Fox-owned cable news channel.
“Despite its “Fair and Balanced” slogan, Fox News under Ailes’ leadership has embraced its role as the communications arm of the Republican Party”, said Eric Hananoki and Ben Dimiero in a column for the watchdog group Media Matters for America. The announcement was made to Fox News staff at its newsroom at the network’s headquarters on Thursday (21 July) at 4pm local time by Murdoch himself, who was accompanied by Lachlan and other executives.
The Murdoch family has given Fox News chairman Roger Ailes a deadline of August 1 to resign, or be fired.
It added: “It is always hard to create a channel or a publication from the ground up and against seemingly entrenched monopolies”. Murdoch said current Fox managers Bill Shine, Jay Wallace and Mark Kranz will help him run the company, which also includes the Fox Business Network, on a day-to-day basis. While the elder Murdoch has long backed Ailes and his agenda-driven news, his sons have had a cooler relationship with the brash executive. “He invented this winning formula and all you have to do is not mess with it too much and it will continue to mint money for you”.
Things are rarely simple in the world of huge corporate scandals, especially when the scandal involves an organization that’s as good at controlling the message as Fox News. “Once he’s gone, I hope the younger Murdochs will attempt to take an approach in which it does become a news outlet rather than a propaganda outlet”. “If Fox tries to recast itself it is likely to fail”, said Chris Harper, a former ABC News correspondent who is now a journalism professor at Temple University.
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“We’re not going to see any quick changes”, said Ken Doctor, a media consultant for Newsonomics and Politico.
