Twentieth Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, released a statement this week.
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It took Roger Ailes over 20 years to make it to the top and it took a sexual harassment claim and less than a month to force him to resign. [Bill] Shine, the senior programming executive, does not command the same level of respect from the Murdochs, while the former top news executive, Michael Clemente, was recently sidelined by Ailes.
Ailes was an adviser to President Nixon, President H.W. Bush and President Ronald Raegan.
His departure comes on the largest and final night of the Republican National Convention, where the Republican presidential nomination will be officially accepted by Donald Trump.
Roger Ailes has always been viewed one of America’s most powerful conservatives. He is a great guy & assures me that “Trump” will be treated fairly on @FoxNews. Ailes’ ouster came two weeks after Gretchen Carlson, one of the news hosts on Fox filed a lawsuit alleging Ailes has sexually harassed her. Ailes has denied the charges. Fox hired a law firm to investigate, and the probe has revealed a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward female staffers, people familiar with the matter said.
After the allegations emerged, some reports said several other women at Fox News had also claimed harassment, including the popular host Megyn Kelly.
Mr Murdoch, who cut short a vacation on the French Riviera to return to NY, according to the Guardian newspaper, said he was taking the reins at Fox “to ensure continuity of all that is best about Fox News and what it stands for”. The network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, announced his resignation on Thursday. The network is the most-watched channel in all of basic cable television this year with an average of 2.2 million prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen data through June. The probe set off by a lawsuit by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Whoever ultimately replaces Ailes must help the channel adapt to the arrival of smartphones, social media and online video, while trying to preserve a franchise that delivers $1.5 billion or more in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. I admire him professionally.
“It has a very stable audience, and an important and stable role in American politics and I don’t expect that to change”, he says. James Murdoch in particular is known to favor a model more like the Murdochs’ Sky News in Britain, which is lively but less openly political. “I think it’s a great short-term solution”.
“I am confident that everyone at Fox News and Fox Business will continue as the standard setters that they are, and that the businesses are well positioned for even greater success in the future”. Exeuctive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, center, and his sons, Lachlan, left, and James Murdoch attend the 2014 Television Academy Hall of Fame in Beverly Hills, Calif. Roger Ailes’ successor at Fox News faces a delicate task in changing the culture of a news organization forever identified with one man, and push it forward for a new generation without alienating an audience that has made it a tremendously lucrative business.
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However, a corporate source said that “consultant” is not an accurate word for what Ailes will be doing. His fans said he smartly recognised that conservative TV viewers were not seeing their viewpoints reflected on Time Warner Inc’s CNN or major broadcast networks. As part of the agreement, Ailes can not start a competitor to Fox News.
