The exodus at Fox News continued on Monday, when less than two weeks after Bill O’Reilly’s termination, co-president Bill Shine was also shown the door as New York Mag’s Gabriel Sherman first reported and was subsequently confirmed in a memo to network employees from Fox News Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch. The move came as Shine was due back on Monday after two days out of the office for a pre-planned long weekend.
“Sadly, Bill Shine resigned today. I know Bill was liked and respected by everybody at Fox News,” writes Murdoch. Suzanne Scott will become president of programming, while Jay Wallace is president of news.
According to Hollywood Reporter, the Murdochs had recently quietly put out external feelers for a new head of Fox News and were known to be looking for a woman, which would send a clear message given the cloud of sexism the network has been under since last summer when Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit opened the floodgates of similar accusations against Ailes as well as network star Bill O’Reilly.
In the press release announcing the executive shuffle, Rupert Murdoch said: “This is a significant day for all at FOX News. Bill has played a huge role in building FOX News to its present position as the nation’s biggest and most important cable channel in the history of the industry. His contribution to our channel and our country will resonate for many years.”
“Fox News continues to break both viewing and revenue records, for which I thank you all for. I am sure we can do even better,” Murdoch’s memo concludes.
New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman had first tweeted that Shine, who has been with the network since its inception, was no longer with the network “as of this morning.”
BREAKING: Two sources inside Fox News say Bill Shine is out as of this morning
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) May 1, 2017
Shine has been accused of covering up incidents of sexual harassment of Ailes, his former boss, who was ousted from the network last summer after Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against him. Since Ailes’ abrupt departure in summer 2016, he has served as co-president of Fox News Channel alongside Jack Abernethy — but his roots at the company are much deeper, as was his work with Bill O’Reilly.
Shine, who had been with FNC since its 1996 launch, has most famously been the top player in the cable network’s programming division. He first served as senior vice president, ultimately becoming senior executive vice president before his current expanded role. While in programming, Shine was the point person on the familiar, fiery conservative commentary that made its primetime a ratings winner. He was the executive in charge of O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and former staffer Greta Van Susteren.
Shine was also named in former Fox News personality Andrea Tantaros’ lawsuit against network executives, which claimed that Fox News “operated like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult.”
Sean Hannity, a friend and colleague of Shine’s, took to Twitter on April 27 to defend the network co-president, fearing the “end of the FNC as we know it” without Shine. Rupert Murdoch took Shine and Abernethy to lunch in Manhattan on April 24, for what appeared to be a very public show of support. But since then the pressure has only mounted on Shine; most recently, his name came up in a class action racial discrimination suit led by Fox News anchor Kelly Wright.
Shine’s departure is the fourth big exit to rock Fox News since last year including Megyn Kelly’s defection to NBC News where she’ll host a primetime newsmagazine and daytime program.
via http://ift.tt/2p2abVY Tyler Durden