Fox News harrasment controversy

[nobody 20]

Note that Lumpy spelled "Gabe" as "Gäbe." IMO, that was by no means a typo.

 

He rage-tweeted a bit more:

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[MEDIA=twitter]857701928054259712[/MEDIA]

No surprise

[Rusty Muck 4159]

Wow, I didn't even notice the way he spelled "Gabe." I know it's hard to gauge people's feelings by Twitter alone, but he does seem to be freaking out a bit about this.

 

And RT is probably one place where he'd go if he ever left FNC, he'd be a great fit honestly. I wonder if anyone else would leave if Bill Shine goes and management gets turned on its head. The Foxes & Friends could put on a good morning show for RT, or perhaps OANN. Anyone either too "extreme" in their politics or anyone who was too close to Ailes and has a sketchy history could have their jobs on the line after all of this. Steve Doocy, for example, was a close friend of Ailes and that was how he got in at Fox News back in the day doing weather, and he allegedly bullied Gretchen Carlson in-between commercial breaks on Fox & Friends and his bad behavior was basically a catalyst for Carlson going against Ailes. Plus, the complaint generally makes him look like a poor co-worker and not an easy guy to work with, and essentially part of the problem with the culture at the company.

Outside of Shepard Smith, the lineup is beyond saving. Too many people there are tainted with the Ailes and Shine stain.

 

Blow it up entirely.

[atlnews2 557]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/media/fox-news-federal-investigation/

 

the United States Postal Inspection Service has joined the FBI in investigating Fox News

[CircleSeven 1944]

From that article above, CNN has also said that investigators are not only probing about how the settlement payments were handled, but they're also investigating on possible misconduct by the staff at Fox News.

 

With all of this going on, I wouldn't be surprised at the end of this probe, that someone or some folks could end up being behind bars before all of this is over.

 

As for the Murdoch sons not giving Shine any "support", that shouldn't be any surprise (especially James). But nevertheless, this speaks HUGE volumes. If James & Lachlan are willing to make these sweeping changes from top to bottom, I would get out the way and let them do what they have to do.

 

I'd said last week they should get rid of him (and I still think so to this day). But could letting go Shine be a bad thing for the Murdochs?

 

From that DI article:

Sources say there are multiple reasons Rupert Murdoch hasn’t replaced Shine. In the immediate wake of Ailes’s dismissal, Shine provided stability to run the network day-to-day. More recently, Murdoch hasn’t wanted to be seen as caving to critics, especially the New York Times. Another problem is that there is no logical successor who could oversee programming at the network. There’s also the question that Shine may simply know too much about Fox News’ inner workings at a time when federal prosecutors are investigating the network. Former CFO Mark Kranz was reportedly granted an immunity deal to aid the FBI probe. “Fired executives take immunity deals,” an insider said. “So it’s a very tricky situation.”

[nobody 20]

From that article above, CNN has also said that investigators are not only probing about how the settlement payments were handled, but they're also investigating on possible misconduct by the staff at Fox News.

 

With all of this going on, I wouldn't be surprised at the end of this probe, that someone or some folks could end up being behind bars before all of this is over.

 

As for the Murdoch sons not giving Shine any "support", that shouldn't be any surprise (especially James). But nevertheless, this speaks HUGE volumes. If James & Lachlan are willing to make these sweeping changes from top to bottom, I would get out the way and let them do what they have to do.

 

I'd said last week they should get rid of him (and I still think so to this day). But could letting go Shine be a bad thing for the Murdochs?

 

From that DI article:

And a word to the wise: 96% of the FNC employees have been given sexual harassment training and the Alertline - whatever happens don't ever fall for that Alertline crap - document the wrongdoing and get a lawyer.

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

Jeez , criminal misconduct investigations conducted by federal agencies now? Just when I thought this couldn't take another crazy turn. If the "Fox News" name wasn't tainted for enough people beforehand, it sure will be after. No wonder the Boston Fox affiliate wanted to get rid of all references to "Fox" on their news broadcasts as soon as they weren't Fox O&O anymore. I bet if James and Lachlan had their way, they'd probably even rebrand Fox News as an American "Sky News" just so people won't be as turned off by it as soon as they see it.

 

And remember, after Ailes resigned, a lot of people started leaving Fox News, including two senior VPs. Many of the behind the scenes so-called "Friends of Roger." They knew what was up, and I'm sure the on-air Friends probably do, too.

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Edit: Looks like the Murdochs might be looking for a woman to take over at FNC. I wonder who might fit the bill for the position.

[mrschimpf 2050]

Another Outnumbered clone is being put in the 5pm timeslot with Eric Bolling, the Fox News Specialists.

 

The last thing they need to be doing at this point is adding yet another male-hosted show with two women reduced to co-hosts (along with the usual same pundits). And that title, unless you're in Salt Lake City circa 1985, is dreadful and clumsy.

[atlnews2 557]

Another Outnumbered clone is being put in the 5pm timeslot with Eric Bolling, the Fox News Specialists.

 

The last thing they need to be doing at this point is adding yet another male-hosted show with two women reduced to co-hosts (along with the usual same pundits). And that title, unless you're in Salt Lake City circa 1985, is dreadful and clumsy.

 

 

what a terrible name for a show

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

Another Outnumbered clone is being put in the 5pm timeslot with Eric Bolling, the Fox News Specialists.

 

The last thing they need to be doing at this point is adding yet another male-hosted show with two women reduced to co-hosts (along with the usual same pundits). And that title, unless you're in Salt Lake City circa 1985, is dreadful and clumsy.

Alternatively, "The Three."

 

You can tell how quickly it was planned and thrown together from the winner of a title "The Fox News Specialists," as well as the premise. This is basically a generic Fox News program but with a half-assed title.

[Rusty Muck 4159]

what a terrible name for a show

Might as well have named it, "The Threeve."

[Georgie56 3059]

what a terrible name for a show

 

KSL's slogan is Your News Specialists.

[Rusty Muck 4159]

You can tell how quickly it was planned and thrown together from the winner of a title "The Fox News Specialists," as well as the premise. This is basically a generic Fox News program but with a half-assed title.

It shows just how much control Roger Ailes had. I doubt that Bill Shine had anything to do with program development, and that's making itself well known now.

 

As unwatchable as "Outnumbered" and "The Five" are (let alone the other generic Fox opinion panel yakfests), they had some sort of distinction and didn't come off as thrown together like this. To wit, remember that "The Five" debuted in the wake of Glenn Beck's infamous flameout...

[Georgie56 3059]

Eric Bolling just appeared on Special Report to talk about his show. He said that two seats will rotate with different "experts and newsmakers" every day. So it's a five-person panel.

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

It shows just how much control Roger Ailes had. I doubt that Bill Shine had anything to do with program development, and that's making itself well known now.

 

As unwatchable as "Outnumbered" and "The Five" are (let alone the other generic Fox opinion panel yakfests), they had some sort of distinction and didn't come off as thrown together like this. To wit, remember that "The Five" debuted in the wake of Glenn Beck's infamous flameout...

I'd imagine that The Five and Outnumbered were at least a little more fresh by the time they premiered as well. The Five was a panel show taking the place of a one-man rant show, and Outnumbered was supposed to be their answer to "The View" I guess, as well as a way of improving ratings during what was a dip in the midday news broadcasts of Happening Now. And according to this article, the idea for it being 4 women against one man was also 100% Ailes' fantasy idea. Shine probably wasn't the one coming up with ideas for new shows.

 

But in regards to today, I think the fact that everything has happened so quickly has also had an effect on how this is turning out and the weirdness we've seen in the schedule (like two hours of Special Report), plus the fact that the temporary "First 100 Days" show will be coming to an end now and now that's another hour that needs to be filled with something.

 

Eric Bolling just appeared on Special Report to talk about his show. He said that two seats will rotate with different "experts and newsmakers" every day. So it's a five-person panel.

So it's The Five but with the rotating panels of Outnumbered. Very creative...

[Rusty Muck 4159]

Jeez , criminal misconduct investigations conducted by federal agencies now? Just when I thought this couldn't take another crazy turn. If the "Fox News" name wasn't tainted for enough people beforehand, it sure will be after. No wonder the Boston Fox affiliate wanted to get rid of all references to "Fox" on their news broadcasts as soon as they weren't Fox O&O anymore. I bet if James and Lachlan had their way, they'd probably even rebrand Fox News as an American "Sky News" just so people won't be as turned off by it as soon as they see it.

 

And remember, after Ailes resigned, a lot of people started leaving Fox News, including two senior VPs. Many of the behind the scenes so-called "Friends of Roger." They knew what was up, and I'm sure the on-air Friends probably do, too.

Edit: Looks like the Murdochs might be looking for a woman to take over at FNC. I wonder who might fit the bill for the position.

 

I don't consider the rebrand at WFXT as directly tied to this fiasco; it might have played a small role, but Cox mismanagement is the bigger factor.

 

Also... the people currently in "charge" of the Justice Department are friends of Fox, as is Trump. These probes go back to the tail end of the Obama administration.

 

Sure, Trump and his cronies could try to kill off the investigations or reduce them to snail-like in yet another politically motivated cover-up... but that will only work for as long as the GOP has control over Congress (let alone it's already shaping up to be another international News of The World fiasco).

 

That being said, what if the Murdochs don't want to fire Bill Shine out of fear that he could seek an immunity deal?

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

If Bill Shine possibly seeking immunity ends up being why they won't get rid of him, then I guess it would continue to be business as usual for the most part. I think now that I think about it more, the one way to get anything to change big time will for sure be if it starts having an effect on money. Either a loss in ad revenue like with O'Reilly or the Sky takeover bid failing yet again and as a result of all of this will probably cause the Murdochs to put a ton of pressure on Shine, as opposed to just letting him run wild like Ailes was allowed to.

[Georgie56 3059]

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Looks like Fox News Specialists will share the same set with The Five.

[nobody 20]

If Bill Shine possibly seeking immunity ends up being why they won't get rid of him, then I guess it would continue to be business as usual for the most part. I think now that I think about it more, the one way to get anything to change big time will for sure be if it starts having an effect on money. Either a loss in ad revenue like with O'Reilly or the Sky takeover bid failing yet again and as a result of all of this will probably cause the Murdochs to put a ton of pressure on Shine, as opposed to just letting him run wild like Ailes was allowed to.

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

I would have made a joke about the same type of show using the same set, but the new set for The Five is admittedly a cool one, if not kind of overkill for what's just a panel debate show, but hey, they had to put Studio F to some good use after the elections (other shows could probably use it, too, I feel like it'd actually be better used for actual news programming compared to just opinion shows though). Interesting logo, too, it suits the title of the show (generic). Funny enough, it's got a similar problem that WFXT had with the real Fox logo not being used (every other show on the FNC that has "Fox" in the title uses it except for the Fox Report, this one they just typed it out and were good to go).

[alex979 118]

Oh look, he's now on a "vacation". Bill O'Reilly groomed him well

 

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/04/fox_host_jesse_watters_announc.html#incart_river_home

 

FWIW, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier have filled in for him the past two nights. Quite a contrast. I wonder if they're considering bringing more of a centrist/moderator to the show...

 

 

As for the "Fox News Specialists," the two guests specialists for Monday's show will not be from Fox News: Mark Cuban and Mark MacKinnon. As bad as the name is, it sounds like an interesting concept.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/28/fox-news-specialists-eric-bolling-kat-timpf-eboni-williams-debuts-fox-news

[anchorman 93]

Quite frankly I'm surprised Bolling signed on for the equivalent of a 'weaker' "Five" at 5pm. The show as initially announced as a show he'd headline, yet here we have a generic title with no indication Bolling has any significant role over Timpf of Williams. Bolling is a huge egomaniac, so something seems off with this move.

[rkolsen 1675]

With all of this going on, I wouldn't be surprised at the end of this probe, that someone or some folks could end up being behind bars before all of this is over.

 

I wonder who will be the US equivalent of Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson?

[Chicago's Very Own 104]

FWIW, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier have filled in for him the past two nights. Quite a contrast. I wonder if they're considering bringing more of a centrist/moderator to the show...

If they were to actually be more "fair and balanced" with the show, then I feel like maybe that would be a good thing. Instead of 4 people on the right ganging up on a liberal (as entertaining and hilarious as much of FNC's audience probably finds this), it would be nice to see a centrist/moderator and then two liberals and two conservatives.

 

Quite frankly I'm surprised Bolling signed on for the equivalent of a 'weaker' "Five" at 5pm. The show as initially announced as a show he'd headline, yet here we have a generic title with no indication Bolling has any significant role over Timpf of Williams. Bolling is a huge egomaniac, so something seems off with this move.

I'd wait and see what this show turns out to be when it begins. It wouldn't surprise me if he has a dominant role throughout the show, or if he sees this only as a temporary thing for him before moving onto his own show, be it on Fox News or another network. I thought for sure he'd have "The Bolling Factor" or something like that by now though.

[Rusty Muck 4159]

Quite frankly I'm surprised Bolling signed on for the equivalent of a 'weaker' "Five" at 5pm. The show as initially announced as a show he'd headline, yet here we have a generic title with no indication Bolling has any significant role over Timpf of Williams. Bolling is a huge egomaniac, so something seems off with this move.

 

I'd wait and see what this show turns out to be when it begins. It wouldn't surprise me if he has a dominant role throughout the show, or if he sees this only as a temporary thing for him before moving onto his own show, be it on Fox News or another network. I thought for sure he'd have "The Bolling Factor" or something like that by now though.

 

This shows the level of instability at FNC. Bill Shine's future at FNC is a gigantic question mark... and it deeply affected the development of this new show, big time.

 

Maybe Shine didn't/doesn't want to give Bolling his own show when Bolling could join Lumpy and other Ailes/Shine defenders in fleeing for the exits at any moment. Or maybe Bolling balked because he feels his time at the network is far from secure.

 

It's also easier on Fox that "The Threeve" (err, "The Specialists") could continue on in the wake of any talent exodus, like "Special Report" and "The Five" (and even a revived nightly "Fox Report" on possible standby).

 

Make no mistake, Ailes would have handed Bolling his own show and given him free reign over it. I always kinda wondered if Bolling was meant by Ailes to be Lou Dobbs' heir apparent at Fox Business (given Bolling's past history at CNBC).

[anchorman 93]

If they were to actually be more "fair and balanced" with the show, then I feel like maybe that would be a good thing. Instead of 4 people on the right ganging up on a liberal (as entertaining and hilarious as much of FNC's audience probably finds this), it would be nice to see a centrist/moderator and then two liberals and two conservatives.

 

 

I'd wait and see what this show turns out to be when it begins. It wouldn't surprise me if he has a dominant role throughout the show, or if he sees this only as a temporary thing for him before moving onto his own show, be it on Fox News or another network. I thought for sure he'd have "The Bolling Factor" or something like that by now though.

 

You're probably right. Even on The Five he was the dominant host.

 

I don't think Timpf is a fit for this type of show, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her off it within 6 months of launch.

 

This shows the level of instability at FNC. Bill Shine's future at FNC is a gigantic question mark... and it deeply affected the development of this new show, big time.

 

Maybe Shine didn't/doesn't want to give Bolling his own show when Bolling could join Lumpy and other Ailes/Shine defenders in fleeing for the exits at any moment. Or maybe Bolling balked because he feels his time at the network is far from secure.

 

It's also easier on Fox that "The Threeve" (err, "The Specialists") could continue on in the wake of any talent exodus, like "Special Report" and "The Five" (and even a revived nightly "Fox Report" on possible standby).

 

Make no mistake, Ailes would have handed Bolling his own show and given him free reign over it. I always kinda wondered if Bolling was meant by Ailes to be Lou Dobbs' heir apparent at Fox Business (given Bolling's past history at CNBC).

 

You're absolutely right that if Ailes were still there, Bolling would have his own hour. I do believe Ailes was grooming Bolling (not Waters) to take over Bill's spot.

 

I think it's only a matter of time before we see Shep take back on a second hour, though I do not believe it will be in the form of a revived weekday "Fox Report." Something tells me that Cavuto (who is likely the biggest "friend of Roger" on-air personality remaining at the network not named Sean Hannity) is not long for his time slot on FNC. I could easily see Shep doing 3-5pm in the somewhat near future.