Bill Shine, Roger Ailes’ right-hand-man who has been implicated in the cover up of Ailes’ sexual harassment, has just signed a new, multi-year contract to continue as co-president of Fox News.
Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch announced:
FOX News co-presidents Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine have signed new multi-year contracts, announced Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox and Executive Chairman of FOX News & FOX Business Network.
In making the announcement, Murdoch said, “Jack and Bill have been instrumental in FOX News’ continued dominance in the ratings and historic earnings performance. I am delighted they’ve each signed new deals, ensuring stability and leadership to help guide the network for years to come.”
Abernethy and Shine had been promoted to their current positions in August, after the sudden departure of CEO Roger Ailes in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct.
But what Murdoch didn’t say is that there is quite a bit of evidence that Shine assisted in covering up Ailes’ wrongdoing. From Media Matters:
New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman—the leading source on the Ailes scandal—previously reported that Shine “played an integral role in the cover up of these sexual harassment claims,” including “play[ing] a role in rallying the women to speak out against Roger Ailes’ accusers.” Sherman also reported that Shine played a key role in the silencing and “smearing” of “Rudi Bakhtiar, who says she was fired from Fox News after complaining about sexual harassment.” Shine also reportedly played a role in the handling of Laurie Luhn, a former booker who reportedly received a $3.15 million severance agreement and was allegedly “sexually harassed and ‘psychologically tortured’ by Roger Ailes for more than 20 years.”
Former Fox host Andrea Tantaros also filed a lawsuit last month alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against Shine, Fox News, and Ailes. According to the complaint, when Tantaros met with Shine seeking “relief from Ailes’s sexual harassment and [Fox News publicist Irena] Briganti’s retaliatory media vendetta against her,” Shine “told Tantaros that Ailes was a ‘very powerful man’ and that Tantaros ‘needed to let this one go.’”
CNN’s Brian Stelter noted that there had been “speculation in media circles” that the promotions had been interim appointments and that permanent management decisions would be put off until after the election.
Apparently, the Murdochs prefer to send a signal of “stability and leadership” for “years to come” over any kind of real housecleaning. In other words, they do not want to rock the boat any further.
But the boat may be rocked regardless. There is a potential shareholder litigation over millions of dollars that Ailes spent, not just in hush money, as noted above, but also for black room operations designed to smear and intimidate those who crossed him. Also, the Tantaros lawsuit remains pending.
And there’s no indication that Sherman is done yet. Who knows what this terrific, dogged reporter will uncover next?
I can hardly wait.
Watch CNBC report on Shine and Abernethy’s August promotion below.
Photo by Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia (News Corporation Headquarters) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Fox and right wing radio seems to thrive with Democrats in control. Don’t be fooled, a Hillary victory would be a boost for them since rock throwing with hate and anger sells easier than being a cheerleader, which is exactly why the Republicans have reduced themselves with Trump. He’s the Frankenstein monster that they all equally created.
Shine was retained because he can continue the right-wing partisanship and large profits. Abernethy is there to keep an eye on Shine to ensure he doesn’t go all-Jabba.