Posted on 01/04/2017 4:50:12 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Megyn Kellys decision to jump from Fox News to NBC resolves one of the last unanswered questions of the Roger Ailes scandal: Would she stay or would she go when her contract ended? With her last show set to air on Friday, Kellys departure raises a new series of questions about how transferrable her talents are and where Fox News is headed now that the network has lost its biggest star and one of its few hosts with serious mainstream credibility.
For Kelly, the jump from a primetime perch at Fox to a multifaceted role at NBC carries a high degree of risk. Shell be giving up the most loyal audience in cable news for new set of platforms that shell have to largely build herself. At NBC, Kelly will anchor an Oprah-like daytime show, launch a new Sunday night news magazine, and contribute to the networks political coverage. The track record for talented anchors launching daytime programs hasnt been good (see: Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Anderson Cooper), and no Fox News star has successfully crossed over to the mainstream before. But Kellys prodigious talents as a broadcaster, not to mention her canny media instincts, could help her defy the trend.
Sources close to Kelly told me today that her departure is an indication of just how unhappy she had become at Fox in the wake of her high-profile feud with Donald Trump and revelations she had accused Ailes of sexual harassment. Her relationships with Bill OReilly and Sean Hannity in particular had completely broken down, one Fox host told me. Bill hated her, the host said. As Kellys contract negotiations dragged on during her much-publicized book tour, things also grew strained with Rupert Murdoch, two sources said. One Fox insider told me Murdoch balked when Kelly asked for $25 million late in the talks. (A person close to Kelly disputed this, saying that said Kelly never asked for a specific dollar amount but that Fox had offered $25 million.)
Inside Fox News, staffers are speculating over who will replace Kelly. According to insiders I spoke with today, the consensus seems to be that the Murdochs will choose a woman to fill her 9 p.m. time slot. The leading internal contenders include Trish Regan, Shannon Bream, Sandra Smith, and Martha MacCallum. Two sources said Kimberly Guilfoyle is lobbying for the job.
The one thing Fox insiders are in agreement on is that whoever replaces Kelly will be a pro-Trump conservative. In the wake of Ailess ouster, some media observers speculated that 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch wanted to reposition Fox to the center, bringing it more in line with his moderate political views. But the selection of a pro-Trump host to fill Kellys slot would suggest that Fox is instead doubling down on its right-wing politics and planning to align itself with the new administration. After initially being hostile to Trump, Murdoch has made moves to curry favor with the president-elect. Fox insiders told me that Murdoch personally named pro-Trump anchor Tucker Carlson to replace Greta Van Susteren at 7 p.m.
Murdochs relationship with Trump has greatly improved since the depths of Trumps battle with Kelly last year. I really like Rupert Murdoch! Trump told guests at Mar-a-Lago over the holidays, according to an attendee. Roger Ailes was a friend of mine, but Foxs coverage is so much better since he left.
If Fox News politics ultimately solidify as more pro-Trump than they were during the campaign, that might be to the benefit of Murdochs business interests. According to a well-placed source, Trump has asked Murdoch to submit names for FCC Chairman. Murdoch, another source said, also wants conditions put on the AT&T-Time Warner merger, and he could lobby Trump to make that happen.
That Murdoch might choose to align his news network with Trump shouldnt come as a surprise. Throughout his career, Murdoch has tended to support the officeholder in power, whether it was Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, or George W. Bush. He even flirted with endorsing Barack Obama in 08, but at the time backed off when Ailes complained.
For those not saying, “Megyn who???”
PING!
Gabriel Sherman is LOL funny! This story is a hoot!
‘One of it’s (FoxNews) few hosts with mainstream credibility’
Yeah, right. Nobody watches her on FoxNews now as she’s tainted meat (pun intended).
She thought she was so hot.
It failed, she failed, goodbye.
Hoot is right.
“...Kellys departure raises a new series of questions about how transferrable her talents are and where Fox News is headed now that the network has lost its biggest star and one of its few hosts with serious mainstream credibility.”
“... its biggest star and one of its few hosts with serious mainstream credibility...”
LOL...Check her ratings...LOL
I’ve never seen anything about her other than she is a rather hot-looking blonde person.
"Mainstream"??? Like New York magazine, perhaps?
NBC is “mainstream “ and Fox is “right wing”.
Got it?
All excellent choices and listed in my order of preference, by chance.
It's the mainstream that has credibility issues with the American people, not Fox.
Kelly will never make it.
America has signaled that it does not want to watch femino-nazis channel there urges to pu$$uy whip America
on prime time. The vote is i n against the Megyn Kellys of the media, and its thumbs down.
Maybe Kelly can later become and understudy of Martha Stewart.
But she is no journalist without the infrastructure that did her work FOR her at Fox. NBC can’t come close.
Sharyl Attkisson, Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingram, Michele Malkin
Just sayin.....
"Prodigious" talents? "Canny" media instincts?
Good grief, did the author of NY Mag sleep with her, so as to shower her with unbridled praise (false praise)? She is neither smart nor canny. Her inane questions during the Presidential Debate confirmed that. She is a so-so celebrity, preening her self in a mirror without contributing to any news cycle. The one smart thing about her is her penchant for getting money; but then again so can a street whore.
“”The leading internal contenders include Trish Regan, Shannon Bream, Sandra Smith, and Martha MacCallum. Two sources said Kimberly Guilfoyle is lobbying for the job””
Is Trish Regan the one with the pretty red hair...I’d pick her. The others have voices that would prevent me from going to FOX at that hour..worst of all choices would be Guilfoyle!
She’s 30 points lower on the cute scale than Katie Couric and still free falling to the bottom of the trust scale ...... and she’s just scaly .Turned my TV off in 08 when MSM lied Erkel Mugabe into power..... haven’t missed it a bit.
Pride goeth before a fall.
Rubbish. This past election pretty much proved beyond doubt that there is no longer any such thing as "serious mainstream credibility."
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