Posted on 01/04/2017 4:50:12 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Megyn Kelly’s 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, Kelly’s 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. She’ll be giving up the most loyal audience in cable news for new set of platforms that she’ll 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 network’s political coverage. The track record for talented anchors launching daytime programs hasn’t been good (see: Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Anderson Cooper), and no Fox News star has successfully crossed over to the mainstream before. But Kelly’s 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 O’Reilly and Sean Hannity in particular had completely broken down, one Fox host told me. “Bill hated her,” the host said. As Kelly’s 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 Ailes’s 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 Kelly’s 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.
Murdoch’s relationship with Trump has greatly improved since the depths of Trump’s 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 Fox’s 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 Murdoch’s 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 shouldn’t 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.
Cute?! See post #37.
That’s a photoshop job. The real cheesecake shots she did for GQ were bad enough.
Nobody at Fox liked or trusted her and she burned all bridges with the President Elect.
Let’s see how her ratings look in 2 years at NBC, if she lasts that long.
I am still trying to figure out why it was posted to me?! I mean no one has previously accused me of bad taste like THAT. Laz, maybe, but me? LOL!
“...now that the network has lost its biggest star...” Surely the writer of this puff piece jests. Perhaps it is satire. She is going to a smaller audience network that is in a serious decline...and she’ll help that decline continue.
Crap?
Call me crazy but I like that “crap”
Ahh, after Trump. I thought she looked like a preying mantis about to devour her mate.
Biggest ‘star????? I change the channel when I see her on.
Probably smells scaly as well.
Erkel Mugabe into power
**********
lol That’s good.
I’m hoping NBC can squeeze a pay per view out of the inevitable Megyn/Couric catfight.
Man, I loved listening to Machine Gun Kelly on 93 KHJ!
There were some awesome DJ’s in the ‘60’s.
Ed
Trish Regan would be a great pick.
My second choice Harris Faulkner.
If it has to be a woman. Otherwise move Hannity up an hour and put a woman in the 7:00 hour.
“Serious manistream credibiility?” Leftist views and presentation, right? I think she formally announced that she is moving openly to the Left when she cut her hair. It is hard to be both pretty and liberal. It makes one suspect.
More like Ben Shapiro to Michelle Fields. They gush and defend in the hopes the head cheerleader will glance their way. It never works. The popular girl doesn’t like the toady beta.
Just changed the channel now. Why does Fox Business have such a stupid show on? Now there is nothing to watch for an hour.
She is damaged goods. Especially when it comes to Trump. He will be making much news over the next years. He would not give her the time of day -— and Fox wants to have the ability to work with Trump. No chance with her around.
She made her decision when she played the “no Trump” game. A real bad mistake for many reasons. Now she has to go to work for a low-life liberal network.
You got what you deserve MK.
Who?
Biggest star....that’s a joke, right?
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