Fox News names its first female CEO
Longtime worker closely tied to the Ailes regime
The Murdoch family named Suzanne Scott the new chief executive of Fox News on Thursday, making her the first woman to lead the cable news network even as her appointment marked the elevation of an executive closely tied with the old regime that was largely ousted in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.
Scott, who joined Fox News at its inception in 1996, rose through the ranks over the years to work in several programming, production and creative positions. Last year, she was appointed president of programming and development amid an executive shake-up that followed the firing of the network’s founding chairman Roger Ailes.
In her new role, Scott will oversee both Fox News and its sister network Fox Business. She will report to Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan, the top executives at 21st Century Fox who also will run the “proposed new Fox,” the slimmed down media conglomerate focused on news and sports that will remain after the proposed sale of most of 21st Century’s entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Co.
In a statement, Lachlan Murdoch said that Scott had “been instrumental in the success of Fox News.”
The appointment makes Scott the only woman in charge of a major cable news network or broadcast news division. The post of chief executive, previously held by Ailes, had been vacant since his departure.
The appointment amounts to a Murdoch vote for the status quo at Fox News, which has weathered the exits of Ailes and several leading personalities — including its top-rated star, Bill O’Reilly — and come out where it started: No. 1.
Fox News remains above its rivals CNN and MSNBC in the ratings and is routinely the mostwatched channel on all of basic cable.
Scott is credited with overseeing programming at the network during that period, which included reworking its prime-time lineup following O’Reilly’s ouster.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to take on this new role and very thankful to Rupert and Lachlan for their leadership and confidence in me to run Fox News,” she said in a statement.
Scott had been cited in lawsuits against the network as a figure who enabled and concealed Ailes’ behavior.
She has denied any wrongdoing and many of those disputes have since settled, including a $10 million settlement reached this week to resolve a group of racial and gender discrimination lawsuits.
But with the Murdoch empire contracting with the jettisoning of Fox’s entertainment arm, the estimated $1 billion in revenue that Fox News reels in annually is that much more important to the family’s bottom line.