July 21, 2016

Roger Ailes Has Resigned from Fox News

It finally happened.

Roger Ailes in California. Reed Saxon/AP Photo

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Roger Ailes has resigned as the CEO of Fox News, according to a statement released today from 21st Century Fox. Rupert Murdoch will be assuming the role of chairman and acting CEO of Fox News and Fox Business.

The official announcement comes days after New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman reported that Ailes was in talks with Fox to leave the company after an internal investigation. Ailes, 76, has been the subject of a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit brought on by former anchor Gretchen Carlson earlier in July. 

The 21st Century Fox statement makes no mention of its investigation into Ailes’s conduct, or whether he would be getting a buyout from the company.

“Roger Ailes has made a remarkable contribution to our company and our country,” Murdoch said in the statement. “Roger shared my vision of a great and independent television organization and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years.”

Since Carlson’s lawsuit, at least 20 other women have accused Ailes of sexual harassment, according to Carlson’s legal team. News anchor Megyn Kelly reportedly has also told investigators that she was harassed by Ailes. 

In a resignation letter to Murdoch posted by the Drudge Report, Ailes said that he was proud of his work in the company and also notes that he will continue working as an advisor for Fox: “I take particular pride in the role that I have played advancing the careers of the many women I have promoted to executive and on-air positions,” Ailes wrote. “Fox News has become Number 1 in all of cable because I consistently identified and promoted the most talented men and women in television, and they performed at the highest levels.”

“I am proud of our accomplishments and look forward to continuing to work with you as an adviser in building 21st Century Fox,” Ailes wrote. 

This is a breaking news post and will be updated as we receive more information. 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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