Fox News is no longer “Fair and Balanced.”
The cable news channel is reportedly set to drop its 20-year-old marketing slogan in an effort to distance itself from its former chief Roger Ailes, who invented it when he launched the network in 1996, according to New York magazine.
Instead, staffers at Fox have reportedly been asked to use its other, less-well-known slogan: “Most Watched. Most Trusted.”
A source at the network reportedly told New York that the switch “won’t affect programming or editorial decisions.”
The news comes as Fox News continues to move away from the Ailes era under the guidance of Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan. Ailes, the principal architect of Fox who changed the cable news business forever, resigned from the network last year under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations and died in May at age 77.
The network has undergone significant changes in recent weeks following the departure of longtime star anchor Bill O’Reilly, whose O’Reilly Factor was the top-rated cable news program for more than a decade. O’Reilly left the network this year after the New York Times reported that he had paid millions of dollars to settle multiple sexual harassment claims.
In his place, Fox News brought on former Crossfire host Tucker Carlson to anchor the 8 p.m. hour and moved its panel show The Five into the 9 p.m. slot. Sean Hannity remained on at 10 p.m.
The network remains the most-watched on television, but has come under increasing pressure as MSNBC and its star anchor, Rachel Maddow, have benefitted from critical coverage of President Donald Trump. During one week in May, Fox News dropped to third place in the key demo in primetime behind MSNBC and CNN, the first time that had happened in 17 years.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.