Greta Van Susteren, one of the mainstays among Fox News Channel anchors, has suddenly exited the network after 14 years. Mediaite reports that Brit Hume will take over her 7 p.m. ET slot on the network starting today.
Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine, FNC’s new co-presidents, announced the moves this morning.
While the official release from Fox News did not give a reason for Van Susteren’s abrupt departure, Howard Kurtz, a media analyst for Fox News and host of its weekly “MediaBuzz” program, tweeted this morning: “Greta Van Susteren leaving Fox (under a contract clause that gave her option of departing if Roger Ailes left).”
Van Susteren has been a defender of Ailes, the former Fox News chief. Back in July, when FNC’s Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes, Van Susteren told People magazine: “Of course, the first thing that occurred to me is that, unfortunately, we have a disgruntled employee, a colleague. I read that her show wasn’t being renewed and, being a lawyer, I thought she got angry. I deal with Roger Ailes often. I’ve often been alone with Roger Ailes in his office over the course of 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like what I’m reading about in the papers and the magazine.”
Van Susteren also told the publication: “People come to me because I’ve been there so long.That’s why this doesn’t have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it.”
Abernethy and Shine, who became co-presidents following Ailes’ exit, said in today’s statement: “We are grateful for Greta’s many contributions over the years and wish her continued success.”
Hume will reportedly cover Van Susteren’s time slot through the November election.
This is just one of several recent departures that have made me wonder if the Titanic Network is about to go down.
We have just seen Roger Ailes leave. He was the patriarch of Fox News Channel.
We have just seen Gretchen Carlson leave
We have just seen Elisabeth Hasselbeck leave
We have just seen Greta Van Susteren leave. Incredibly popular.
We have just seen Anna Kooiman leave
Isn’t this a tiny bit alarming when the rats are all abandoning the ship ?
This is NOT a minor setback. I’d term it when taken in its entirety to be a potentially trauma.
Anna Kooiman left because her husband got a job assignment in Australia.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck left a couple years ago. Fox has a deep bench. Shannon Bream and Jenna Lee are probably ready to move up.
Greta will surely be missed. She delivered the news nightly without any overt showing of being partisan. And, she always seemed to fight for worthy causes, such as releasing that Marine from a Mexican prison for making a wrong turn.
Looks like Fox News is going into the toilet – too bad!
I vote for Shannon Bream to move into Prime Time! She is stellar! And Maria Bartiromo needs to move to Fox News from Fox Business!