September 6, 2016

Greta Van Susteren is leaving Fox News... immediately.

Announced the same day as Fox News's settlement of the sexual harassment case filed by Gretchen Carlson. The case was about things done by Roger Ailes, and Van Susteren had defended Ailes.
Van Susteren was said to be one of the FNC on-air talent who had a clause in their contact to walk if Ailes left the net....
Does that mean she quit or was fired? We're only told that contract negotiations stalled. Opaque.

Brit Hume takes over the show, beginning tonight.

42 comments:

dreams said...

I read somewhere that her husband said she might sue Fox, still not decided.

Humperdink said...

Somewhat surprising move - has to a be purely financial move on her part. Didn't care for her during the OJ trial, but really enjoyed her show over the past few years. I give Brit Hume less than a year.

dreams said...

She owes her career to the OJ trial.

Chuck said...

Win-win.

Less Greta, more Brit Hume.

Now, Fox needs to find a way to get rid of Shepard Smith, Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity. Maybe they can all work for the Trump Landslide Network.

Quite seriously, they need to rearrange the lineup. Special Report with Bret Baier -- the best program on FNC -- needs a much higher priority slot.

Original Mike said...

"I give Brit Hume less than a year."

I give him 63 days.

Bob Ellison said...

Kaepernick move.

dreams said...

"Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity"

I like both of those guys, especially Eric Bolling who I remember from his days on CNBC's Fast Money show. He was good on that show and provided some good stock suggestions. As to Sean Hannity, it doesn't bother me that he is all in for Trump.

befinne said...

A news story said she had a "key person clause" in her contract, meaning that with management change she could simply walk away. And apparently HLN is looking for talent for a prime time show....

dreams said...

"I give Brit Hume less than a year."

He is taking over the show only temporarily.

Achilles said...

Fox News is being brought back into the fold. Ailes was targeted and driven out. The people who saw fox as a counter to the monopoly of the globalists on TV information distribution will be purged. This is a rearguard action by the globalists.

It is in the same vein as the internet being turned over to the UN. Trump came just in time.

William said...

You know there's a story behind this, and you know that you'll never know it until years later.

dreams said...

It was first reported that Brit Hume was taking over her show through the election but reports now seemed to indicate its permanent.

dreams said...

"You know there's a story behind this, and you know that you'll never know it until years later."

Unless she sues Fox.

Chuck said...

I wonder how long Brit would do a nightly show from New York. And I don't know if FNC would do a Greta-replacement show from Washington.

Brit sold his estate in Northern Virginia, and I think he much prefers his house in Boca Grande through the winter.

traditionalguy said...

Greta has a strong following who enjoy her attorney reasoning skills mixed with friendliness. Whoever hires her will do well. Will it be A Trump Cable News spinoff? Stay tuned.

She was the exact opposite of the blonde bimbo news readers. Her mind is first class and she uses it well. But the method is to have a termination clause that prohibits them from going elsewhere for 9 months while they "go dark" on FOX, so their following forgets them.

I bet the Murdoch British wealthy boys are seriously misreading the instincts of Americans. FOX will soon lose its level of success under Ailes, who is a genius at on air talent.

dreams said...

"I bet the Murdoch British wealthy boys are seriously misreading the instincts of Americans. FOX will soon lose its level of success under Ailes, who is a genius at on air talent."

I agree. The Murdoch boys are liberal and will want to please their friends.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What would have been the point of a clause to make her follow a departure by Ailes? Disincentive against firing him? Was her clout really that great? Or was she a corporate risk that it was felt only Ailes could manage? Someone explain this to me.

Rick said...

I don't think they would have fired her. But maybe they pressured her to apologize for her remarks defending Ailes thinking it would smooth things over with the remaining complainants and she quit instead.

Etienne said...

I think she tried to get a raise. A big raise. Not $20 million, but maybe half that.

She had no reason to stick around. The place is going to be liquidated by Murdoch. He's going to bring in cheaper immigrants.

Hagar said...

The young Murdochs apparently want to go for squashing the scandal quickly, just pay off, apalogize, and tell everyone to keep their mouths shut or else.

All the other speculation above about van Susteren is of course possible, but Greta being Greta, it is also possible that she just did not take to being told to shush, or perhaps the way she was being told.

Kathryn51 said...

Her post (I think on FB) indicated that she gave them notice on Thursday night and that she had a limited window of time to make the decision - probably 30 days or so after Ailes was booted? (I'm not sure of the dates). I imagine she tried to up her salary, but if she was loyal to Ailes, the Young Murdochs were probably anxious to let her go.

Brit said today that he's only on through the Election. I actually watched FOX news for the first time in weeks so that I could catch him - he was always my favorite.

Agree with comments re: Sean H. He's like Hillary - nails on a chalkboard.

The Young Murdochs will eventually ruin Fox but by then I figure there will be more alternatives via internet, etc. Or, maybe by then I'll be too old to care.

tim in vermont said...

I haven't watched Fox in a couple of years, maybe I will give them another look.

Barry Dauphin said...

Greta is handsome.

Mark said...

Meanwhile, Gretchen Carlson gets her golden parachute.

Which is essentially an admission of guilt. She must really have recorded it like has been speculated .... Ailes paid dearly for those tapes to remain private.

Humperdink said...

I missed the part of it being temporary for Hume. I get the 63 day part. Makes sense since he is semi-retired.

walter said...

R&B,
I think I heard a number of the "talent" there had similar contract. Previously, it was framed more as a loyalty clause since he was considered the one who lifted them up.
Now it's this alleged..err..Fox in the hen house scenario.
I haven't been following Gretchen's claims closely..at least not closely enough to feel like there was 20 mil in the offing.
Must be a wonderful work environment there these days.
At least they're not likely to bump into Sharpton there...though he once was a Fox employee.

Earnest Prole said...

Who in her shoes wouldn't be upset by the sheer inequality of it all: A blond-haired, bambi-eyed colleague gets a $40 million payout, while no one at Fox ever so much as made a pass at handsome Greta.

David Begley said...

Who best to be the permanent replacement for Greta? A real Badger! A real lawyer! Althouse!

Just broadcast from Madison. Meade and Laslo could have segments. Music guests! Dylan's career revived. Botany and photography. Ratings through the roof.

This move would be entirely consistent with the post-Ailes Fox News.

traditionalguy said...

One rumor has it that Ailes and Carlson will take their 60 million total loot, divorce their spouses, and marry each other now. Just like Joe and Mika did on MSNBC.

But that still leaves Greta alone with her pets.

SukieTawdry said...

Meh. A show I never watch on a network I never watch.

walter said...

Earnest Prole said...A blond-haired, bambi-eyed colleague gets a $40 million payout
--
"Who do I have to fuck to get-off this boat?"

Sprezzatura said...

"But that still leaves Greta alone with her pets."

I didn't want to be the one to point to the elephant in the room. But, since Tguy opened the door, isn't it sad for Greta that (even w/ the surgery) she's not hot. Look how much dough she could have had if she were only entry-level hot, 20 million ain't bad. Kelly must be kicking herself. Assuming the obnoxious pursuit was scaled depending on hotness, and assuming payouts were based on obnoxiousness, if she had kept audio tapes she'd pulling in 40 million*. Of course, by this matrix Greta is still kick to the curb for nothing.


*This is, obviously, subjective. And, on paper, there are, strictly visually speaking, more together Fox foxes, but I give extra points for sassiness and smarts. IMHO.

Sprezzatura said...

"But that still leaves Greta alone with her pets."

Also, technically she has a spouse.

And, as I recall, the couple was known to be Clinton friendly, at least the where at one point.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Greta was good, Brit is exceptional.

Rusty said...

She's a handsome woman.

MPH said...

Imagine being 76 years old and addicted to the Sean Hannity Show?

JCC said...

Van Susteren gave a public interview backing Ailes and stating unequivocally that she didn't believe Carlson was sexually harassed. Rather, Greta suggested this was really about Carlson's pay and contract negotiations. When Ailes got the boot, Van Susteren took advantage of a clause in her contract which let her bail if management changed. Van Susteren allegedly sought to renegotiate her own contract for a substantial raise, by holding out the possibility she would jump ship if she didn't get paid more. Fox apparently refused to renegotiate her existing contract, so she left. She has some kind of non-compete requirement for a undisclosed time period before she can go back to work in a TV job.

I don't know that anyone has expanded on her statement that she felt out of place at Fox recently or what exactly her being out of sync is about.

Personally, I think Fox has a surfeit of morons working on-air, although I felt like Van Susteren was much more than a vacuous talking head and generally, pretty sincere about things.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/08/fox-news-greta-van-susteren-backs-her-boss-roger-ailes-in-gretchen-carlson-lawsuit.html

David said...

A big loss for Fox. Greta was a rarity, a normal person. She showed common sense, humility and a humane approach. A rational cheesehead, the best kind.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

@ R&B

What would have been the point of a clause to make her follow a departure by Ailes?

The clause, as I understand it, wasn't to 'make' her follow a departure by management but to allow her to do so without major repercussions or financial harm. Perhaps even with some severance pay in the clause. The reason that a person might want this in the contract is to allow them to leave if management becomes a hostile take over type environment. If the management that solicited you was one that was friendly to you and your working style, you might want to have the ability to bail if a hostile manager took over.

I wasn't aware of the 9 month ban on moving to another network. So I will have to look that up. Perhaps they thought that was a poison pill in the contract and would bind the person (Greta) to them.

I wonder if that blackout clause extends to exposure on the internet. Blogging. You tube videos, talk radio and other venues that would keep her in the public eye without being on a television network.

Jupiter said...

traditionalguy said...

"She was the exact opposite of the blonde bimbo news readers. Her mind is first class and she uses it well."

You know she's a scientologist, right?

Rusty said...

Sorry Barry. Didn't see you there.

Unknown said...

Hey the news is entertainment it has been for a long time on every News Network that Fox News decided to put on good looking women with good legs is called marketing do they ask stupid questions or comments yes of course almost all of them do on every News Network but they don't consistently ask stupid questions certainly not to the level of a Katie Couric the truly sad part of the whole sexual harassment thing is the news ladies like to portray themselves as the tough hard-bitten news journalist but when a little troll looking old man hits on them they just get all weepy eyes and go into a fan only to be revived by their lawyers