Murdochs seeking woman to run Fox News: report

The owners of Fox News would prefer to find a woman to run the network as they begin a search for a new head, The Hollywood Reporter reported Friday.

The Murdoch family, which runs Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, “have quietly put out feelers” for a new network head, the report said.

Pressure is building for Fox to make more changes to its work environment after former Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes and former top-rated host Bill O’Reilly were both ousted over sexual harassment accusations.

Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine were named co-presidents of Fox News not long after Ailes’s July departure from the network. 

{mosads}Fox News and 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch took Shine and Abernethy to lunch earlier this week at a popular restaurant in Central Park in New York City in what was seen as a public show of support. 

Shine went to Murdoch’s sons, who serve as top executives for 21st Century Fox, and asked for a public statement of support, New York magazine reported this week.

Shine denied through a Fox News spokesperson that he went to James and Lachlan Murdoch for such a statement. A spokesperson for Murdoch also said Shine did not directly ask for a statement.

In a memo to employees following O’Reilly’s departure last week, Rupert Murdoch said the company was committed “to fostering a work environment built on the values of respect and trust.”

“The feelers are external; though it’s possible that someone could get promoted from within,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

Fox News host Sean Hannity took to Twitter on Thursday to defend Shine, his former producer, and appeared to acknowledge there is a concerted effort to have him removed as co-president. 

“I pray this is NOT true because if it is, that’s the total end of the FNC as we know it. Done,” Hannity tweeted.

“Somebody HIGH UP AND INSIDE FNC is trying to get an innocent person fired.”

Suzanne Scott is the highest-ranking woman at Fox News on the programming front. In August, Scott was named executive vice president of programming and development at the network and supervises daytime and prime-time opinion shows and leads development of new programming.

The report comes as the revamped Fox News captured first place in the cable news ratings race for the first three nights in prime time this week both in total viewers and in the crucial 25- to 54-year-old demographic that advertisers covet most. 

The network moved Tucker Carlson’s show from 9 p.m. to 8 p.m. to replace O’Reilly, and relocated “The Five” from 5 p.m. to fill Carlson’s vacated 9 p.m. slot. 

21st Century Fox declined to comment.