Free Republic

Starting this week, a new era for prime-time cable news begins. Tucker Carlson will assume Fox News’s 8 p.m. time slot on Monday, the first time in nearly two decades that Bill O’Reilly will not be kicking off Fox News’s prime-time lineup. And Fox’s competitors are taking notice. Mr. O’Reilly’s dismissal amounts to an enormous shift in cable news, and the TV industry was ablaze with talk late last week whether the move has the potential to open up a cable news war that for more than a decade has been dominated by Fox News.

In an interview with Salon, Rashad Robinson of Color Of Change admitted his organization's role in ousting Bill O'Reilly. If you're unfamiliar with Color Of Change, it's a black activist group co-founded by CNN pundit and former Obama aide, Van Jones. The group partnered with none other than David Brock's Media Matters to disseminate the contact information of O'Reilly Factor sponsors in an effort to have them drop their sponsorship. By creating a groundswell of fake outrage, Color Of Change was able to coerce Bill O'Reilly's sponsors into dropping support for his show and forcing Fox News to terminate his...

On Wednesday, Fox News announced that it was parting ways with "The O'Reilly Factor" host Bill O'Reilly, whose ratings dominated the network. But due to a contract O'Reilly signed late last month, he'll be walking away with quite a sizable severance package. "It is a staggering amount," a source involved in the exit maneuverings told CNN Money. The outlet reported that Fox will pay O'Reilly "tens of millions of dollars." Due to a confidentiality agreement, 21st Century Fox and O'Reilly's representatives would not acknowledge the payout. But two well-placed sources told CNN Money that O'Reilly will be paid handsomely as...

Fox News' handling of the renewed harassment allegations is a reflection of greater company conflicts and a generational shift as Rupert hangs on to a bygone era and James and Lachlan plot a risky new course. Last July, after Gretchen Carlson sued the Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox and Roger Ailes, the then-head of Fox News Channel, for sexual harassment, Rupert Murdoch told his sons, both Ailes enemies, that paying off Carlson without a fight would mean more lawsuits. Easy-money settlements always bring more claims. James and Lachlan Murdoch, however, were eager to get rid of their nemesis, and the most direct...

With the ouster of Roger Ailes and now Bill O’Reilly, Rupert Murdoch's son has overthrown his own network as he moves to reinvent the family company's profit machine at great risk.

Bill O'Reilly's Fox News career now swims with the fishes.The conventional wisdom is that after the NY Times exposed a history of sexual harassment settlements, and two new accusers came forward, advertisers "fled" the show, forcing the hand of News Corp and the Murdochs.That conventional wisdom is only partially correct -- advertisers didn't flee, they were chased away by the same organized effort as was used against Glenn Beck once upon a time, and Rush Limbaugh in 2012.Longtime readers will recall my extensive and groundbreaking research into the StopRush operation just after Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke in 2012, for...

Twenty-two companies have pulled their ads from Bill O'Reilly's show after a report revealed women had accused the Fox News host of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and inappropriate behavior. O'Reilly's show may be taking a financial hit after BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai, Ainsworth, Constant Contact, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Allstate, Esurance, Untuckit, Mitsubishi, T. Rowe Price, Credit Karma, Coldwell Banker, Lexus, Bayer, Wayfair, Orkin, True Car, MileIQ, The Wonderful Company, and the Society for Human Resources Management all announced they would be removing their ads.

An investigation by The New York Times has found a total of five women who have received payouts from either Mr. O’Reilly or the company in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him. The agreements totaled about $13 million. Two settlements came after the network’s former chairman, Roger Ailes, was dismissed last summer in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, when the company said it did not tolerate behavior that “disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment.”

Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history, which has consistently informed and entertained millions of Americans and significantly contributed to building Fox into the dominant news network in television. It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my...

During today’s Morning Joe discussion of the ouster of Bill O’Reilly at Fox News, Joe Scarborough asked, “Do they remake over the entire network? Is anybody else in the [Murdoch] family’s crosshairs right now?” Replied New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters: “I think you have to look at somebody like Sean Hannity, and question whether or not his almost propaganda-like attitude and programming every night is going to be acceptable in the minds of the family, which is clearly trying to shift the network in a different direction.” View the video here.

The left's takedown of Bill O'Reilly was only partly the result of an organized campaign of destruction. Mr. O'Reilly, like Roger Ailes before him, became a victim of his own bad behavior. Fox News management made the decision to let O'Reilly go not because of the highly publicized settlements the network made with 5 women who accused the host of sexual harassment. The network decided to ax O'Reilly because there are apparently several other women who are deciding whether or not to press forward with similar suits. (Reports indicate that an internal investigation carried out by a third party...

" ... the company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel."

Bill O'Reilly is leaving Fox News Channel, the network's parent company has said. “After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement.