Fox News loses another head
THE turmoil at Fox News continued this week with the resignation of co-president Bill Shine, who succeeded Roger Ailes amid a sexual-harassment scandal last year despite Shine’s alleged role in abetting Ailes in tolerating a workplace hostile to women.
Shine, a 20-year Fox News veteran, appeared to have the backing of chairman Rupert Murdoch in the wake of the firing of Bill O’Reilly, its biggest star. Only last week, Murdoch, Shine and co-president Jack Abernethy were photographed emerging from lunch at a Manhattan restaurant, widely read as a vote of confidence by Murdoch in the two men.
Instead, Shine appeared to come under increasing pressure all week, as rumours began circulating that Murdoch’s sons - Lachlan and James, who run Fox’s parent company, 21st Century Fox – were seeking his successor.
Shine ran the programming arm of the media empire, while Abernethy, also a long-time Fox News executive, runs the business side, including ad sales, finance and distribution.
Rupert Murdoch announced Shine’s departure in an internal memo on Monday afternoon:
“Sadly, Bill Shine resigned today,” he wrote. “I know Bill was respected and liked by everyone at Fox News. We will all miss him.”
Murdoch said Suzanne Scott, Shine’s top deputy, will become president of programming. Jay Wallace, executive vice-president of news, will be president of news.
The terse and relatively upbeat announcement masked what has become an extraordinarily tumultuous nine months for Fox News. Former host Gretchen Carlson’s harassment lawsuit against Ailes in July triggered a succession of lawsuits, internal investigations, resignations and firings.
In addition to Ailes, O’Reilly and now Shine, Fox has lost Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susteren, both of whom anchored evening programmes. Both joined NBC in January.
The network also has a new chief financial officer and head of human resources.
The appointment of Scott puts a woman at the top of the network for the first time in its 21-year history and may be the most visible sign yet that the younger Murdochs are attempting to foster what they called “a workplace based on the values of respect and trust” when Ailes was forced out last year.
Women’s groups, and some Fox employees, have complained that the Murdochs weren’t serious about reforming Fox as long as its leadership – selected by and loyal to Ailes – remained intact.
O’Reilly was fired after the New York Times revealed that he and Fox had paid millions of dollars to quietly settle a series of sexual harassment allegations against him, including two after Ailes left last year. Both O’Reilly and Ailes have denied the many accusations lodged by female employees of Fox.
Shine has been implicated in the harassment scandal, and an unrelated racial discrimination action, via several lawsuits filed by Fox employees. Among the claims are that Shine ignored or downplayed complaints and concealed Ailes’ behaviour. Former host Andrea Tantaros alleged in a suit last year that she complained about Ailes’ harassment of her to Shine, and Shine advised her against pursuing the claim.
More broadly, Shine has been under suspicion for his close association with Ailes over the years, and over what role, if any, he played in helping Ailes maintain silence in the face of allegations of harassment and employee intimidation. He has repeatedly disclaimed any knowledge of Ailes’s allegedly unethical or illegal behaviour.
He did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Some at Fox believed Shine gave the network stability and continuity as it was buffeted by the Ailes and O’Reilly episodes.