PrintO'Reilly saga presages changes at Fox
Bill O'Reilly's departure from Fox News is only the latest in what promise to be major changes at Fox News initiated by a management currently in flux.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, is moving toward retirement, slowly bequeathing his media empire to his two sons, Lachlan and James. Fox News is the crown jewel in that empire. But, as the O'Reilly scandal showed, father and sons are not always on the same page, and disagreements over policy and strategy have roiled the board room on more than one occasion.
The reactions to the news of O'Reilly's departure were decidedly mixed in the newsroom. Some staffers cried. Others were elated. The move also laid bare divisions between the Murdoch sons, Lachlan and James, and their father, who were on opposite sides of the argument about whether to retain the anchor, according to a person close to the family. Eventually, though, Rupert Murdoch agreed with his sons about the need to remove O'Reilly, this person added. And the day was filled with an ominous tension as the elder Murdoch, the network's C.E.O., moved from one closed-door meeting to another to inform on-air talent of their new jobs.
The Murdoch family feud extends to ideological differences between father and sons – differences that could mean big changes are coming at Fox News.
WND:
On Wednesday, Beck suggested to his radio audience that Murdoch's sons don't like Fox News and will eventually kill off the channel.
"It's not going to go away right away," Beck said, "but you're seeing a significant weakening. Who's the big bad wolf that will stand in the door?
"Roger is gone, and Rupert had to deal with the family – that the family and the wives and the children would kill it, and you're seeing the end of the Fox News Channel."
The two sons first flexed their muscles last year when Roger Ailes, the single most important figure in the history of Fox News, was cashiered for similar sexual harassment charges to those leveled against O'Reilly.
Last year, allegations against Ailes – including by high-profile Fox hosts Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly – kept rolling in. Finally he was forced out and many media analysts viewed this as evidence of the growing influence of Lachlan and James Murdoch. They were viewed as not only having more modern views on what sort of behaviour was tolerable in the organisation, but being concerned about some of the more hardline stances Fox took against issues such as climate change under Ailes.
In other words, Fox as a bastion – or refuge – for conservatives is changing. And it appears that there are more charges of sexual harassment on the way against other male personalities and staffers at Fox, which will give Lachlan and James more opportunities to shape the network in their own, more moderate image.
Part of that image change may be connected to the desire of the Murdoch sons to make their first big score; purchasing Sky News, the British satellite TV giant, for $15 billion. But British regulators have put an obstacle in their way.
The accusations about Mr. O'Reilly surfaced just as Mr. Murdoch looks to take control of the British satellite television giant Sky. As part of those takeover efforts, company executives at 21st Century Fox face a "fit and proper test," in which regulators determine whether the people who would be running the combined company are fit to do so.
Mr. Murdoch's previous bid for Sky was scuttled by a scandal involving phone hacking by journalists in Britain that led to the closing of one of his newspapers.
The elder Murdoch is a tough old bird, but it's hard to see how he could have fought the entire liberal establishment and radical base in trying to keep O'Reilly. The sons are far more in tune with political realities but may not be made of the same stuff as the father. I think Beck exaggerates about the "end" of Fox News once the sons take over. But they may make an effort to expand the network's audience beyond their current demographics. That probably means less ideology and more touchy-feely hosts and stories.
Will the right stick with the network in the coming years that will almost certainly be accompanied by upheaval and change? That's what Lachlan and James are gambling on, because conservatives do not want Fox to become a pale echo of CNN and MSNBC.
