Cracks down on inflammatory statements?

New Fox chief cracks down on inflammatory statements

CEO Suzanne Scott summoned producers to a meeting to direct them to take more control over hosts and panelists.

By JASON SCHWARTZ

Amid growing backlash against inflammatory statements by Fox News commentators, network CEO Suzanne Scott summoned top show producers to a meeting last week and delivered a clear message: They need to be in control of their hosts and panelists.

Scott told the producers that they would be held accountable for anything said on their air, and that it was their job to head off any inappropriate remarks, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. Appearing via video conference from Washington, D.C., to the group in New York, which also included programming executives, Scott read from a prepared script, explaining that she wanted to make sure she communicated her message precisely.

“She said, ‘You are responsible for protecting the talent, protecting the brand,’” one of the people aware of the meeting said. “She said, ‘You are responsible as the producers. You have to protect the talent and the brand.’”

The decision by Scott, who is in her second month as CEO, to gather the executives and producers last Wednesday and read them prepared remarks was unusual, said the people familiar with the meeting, and not something they were aware had ever happened before. With several national advertisers having dropped Fox News shows in recent months and an increasing number of prominent voices speaking out against the network, the top-rated channel finds itself at a delicate moment.

Recent on-air statements by prime-time host Laura Ingraham, as well as guest commentators, about the child separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border were viewed as so problematic, according to one of the people with knowledge of the meeting, that Scott told the group that, going forward, material about children should be scripted in advance and reviewed before airing. Producers, presumably, would be the ones to review the copy.

Ingraham had drawn fire for comparing child detention centers to “summer camps” and “boarding schools.”

In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson said, “As the CEO of the network, Suzanne Scott regularly leads executive and editorial meetings and she expects accountability from her senior staff, which is what all good leaders do.”

At the meeting, Scott emphasized to producers that, if something incendiary is said on their show, it is their job to get in the host’s ear and make sure they push back in the moment, according to the people familiar with the meeting.

The day before, former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had appeared on the network and belittled a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was reportedly separated from her mother, saying “Womp womp” to her story. The host, Sandra Smith, who was in as a substitute for Martha MacCallum, did not say anything to address Lewandowski’s statements. That incident, according to a person close to the situation, was the immediate reason that Scott called the meeting.

Similarly, the previous weekend, conservative commentator Ann Coulter had appeared on Fox News as a guest and falsely alleged that the children at the border were “child actors.” Host Steve Hilton let the comment go unchallenged on air. Only later did he issue a statement saying, “I do not endorse her comments or anything else said by anyone other than myself.”

The point of Scott’s meeting was not so much to scold, according to the two people with knowledge of it, but to identify the problem and attempt to address it.

Scott’s message appears at least partially to have taken hold: A few days after the meeting, when Democratic strategist Joel Payne argued on air that the White House is using racist dog whistles, Fox News contributor and former Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie told Payne, who is black, “You’re out of your cotton-picking mind.”

After Payne took exception to the phrase, host Ed Henry denounced Bossie’s statement on the air.

“I want to make clear Fox News and this show, myself, we don’t agree with that particular phrase. It was obviously offensive,” Henry said, following Bossie’s statements.

Bossie was suspended for two weeks by Fox, according to a person at Fox with knowledge of the situation, though the network has yet to acknowledge it publicly. The Daily Beast first reported the suspension on Monday.

The network has been hit recently with multiple advertiser boycott campaigns. Prime-time host Sean Hannity endured one last fall and, after Ingraham’s comments about “summer camps” and “boarding schools,” at least one major advertiser dropped her show, on top of several other advertisers who left in the spring, after she mocked Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg on Twitter.

The network’s coverage of the child migrant crisis has also prompted prominent figures associated with the entertainment wing of 21st Century Fox to speak out. In response to Ingraham, Steve Levitan, co-creator of “Modern Family,” tweeted that he would consider taking his show away from Fox’s production studios, saying, “I’m disgusted to work at a company that has anything whatsoever to do with Fox News.” Seth MacFarlane, creator and star of the Fox shows “Family Guy” and “The Orville,” said Fox News made him “embarrassed” to work for the company.

Scott, 52, was promoted to the role of CEO in May, marking the first time a woman has run one of the cable news networks. She joined the network in 1996 and served as a top executive under former CEO Roger Ailes until his 2016 ouster amid sexual harassment allegations.

For two decades, Ailes’ personality dominated Fox News. Now, Scott finds herself with the challenge of making her own mark on the network. Last year, after she rose to the position of president of programming, two of her biggest decisions were tapping Ingraham and Tucker Carlson for the prime-time slots opened up by Bill O’Reilly, who left amid his own sexual harassment scandal, and Megyn Kelly, who jumped to NBC.

Ingraham and Carlson have helped Fox News retain its No. 1 ratings, but are also prone to making controversial statements. (Carlson has also recently sparked criticism over his statements on immigration.) The very nature of hosts like that is to be provocative, points out one former Fox News producer.

“The management hired these people knowing fullwell what they’re doing and then pretend after the fact,” the former producer said. “‘Why would they say these things? How could it possibly happen?’ What do you mean, how could it happen? You hired this person because they say crazy things.”

Given the volume of controversial opinions offered by Fox News opinion hosts, the former producer wondered where Scott draws the line between which statements are acceptable and which are too outrageous.

“What’s inappropriate?” the former producer asked, “What’s not?”