Bill O’Reilly Latest To Be Out At Fox

It is now official that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to Fox following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. This is another example of the increasing influence of Rupert Murdoch’s more liberal sons. Roger Ailes, who was responsible for much of the right wing propaganda at Fox, was forced out last summer following complaints of sexual harassment. Fox also lost another of their major stars, Megyn Kelly, as a consequence of the culture at Fox which permitted such sexual harassment, along with comments from O’Reilly

It is not clear what will happen to O’Reilly, who does have a large fan base. He very will might wind up elsewhere, but it is doubtful that either a major network or another cable news network would take him. Most likely he will wind up at an outlet with much less exposure than he received at Fox.

The bigger question is whether the loss of such stars will reduce the ratings, and influence, of Fox. It will take time to see if other hosts can build as large a following. Current plans are for Tucker Carlson, who now has Megyn Kelly’s old 9 pm time slot, to move up to O’Reilly’s 8 pm time slot.  The Hollywood Reporter also reports that a show now on at 5 pm, The Five, will take over the 9 pm time slot. They describe The Five as a “panel show hosted by a rotating panel including Dana Perino, Bob Beckel, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams and O’Reilly Factor contributor Jesse Watters.” Considering the structure of the prime time “news” shows, I wouldn’t be surprised that if one of these people, or somebody else, should achieve a larger following, Fox changes to a single anchor prime time show in the future.