Don’t worry, everyone: Roger Ailes will continue as Fox News’s chairman and CEO through the 2016 election (and probably beyond). On Thursday morning, 21st Century Fox announced that Ailes has signed a “new multi-year contract’ with the company, putting an end to speculation that his role might change now that Rupert Murdoch’s sons, James and Lachlan, are (sort of) taking over the business. It also seems to answer the question of whom, exactly, Ailes will be working for, which has recently been the subject of some debate.
Per a Fox press release, Ailes “will jointly report” to all three Murdochs. That’s a change from what he told his own Fox Business on June 11 (“Ailes will … [report] directly to Rupert Murdoch”) and a change from what 21st Century Fox said a week later (“Ailes [will] be reporting to Lachlan and James Murdoch). The meaning of the newly announced arrangement isn’t completely clear, but CNN Money suggests that it “may mean Rupert will continue to call the shots when it comes to Fox,” leaving the more politically liberal James and Lachlan free to deal with operations that don’t involve Fox News’s signature rabid conservatism.
