Gabriel Sherman, National Affairs Editor at New York Magazine, reports that Fox News boss Roger Ailes is being “removed” by the Murdochs. He’s been nailed by the company’s internal probe into him, triggered by claims of sexual harassment leveled by Gretchen Carlson.
After reviewing the initial findings of the probe, James Murdoch is said to be arguing that Ailes should be presented with a choice this week to resign or face being fired. Lachlan is more aligned with their father, who thinks that no action should be taken until after the GOP convention this week. Another source confirms that all three are in agreement that Ailes needs to go.
While Gretchen Carlson’s sexual-harassment lawsuit against Ailes sparked the investigation, sources say it has expanded into a wide-ranging inquiry into Ailes’s controversial management style.
Update: Fox denies it.
Responding to a news report that said Roger Ailes would soon be removed as chairman of Fox News, 21st Century Fox said on Monday that “this matter is not yet resolved.”
The statement came about 90 minutes after New York magazine reported that 21st Century Fox’s top executives — Rupert, James and Lachlan Murdoch — had decided that Mr. Ailes would need to leave his position after a sexual harassment lawsuit from former anchor Gretchen Carlson and an investigation into the culture of the network.
Nathaniel Brown, a spokesman for 21st Century Fox, Fox News’s parent company, responded to the article by saying, “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded.”