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 The exit of Shine, who has been with Twenty-First Century Fox
Inc's Fox News since its inception over 20 years ago, marks a
key step in the attempt by Rupert Murdoch and his sons, who run
the company, to clean house after a series of embarrassing
revelations.
Chairman Roger Ailes resigned in July following sexual
harassment allegations, and top-rated news host Bill O'Reilly
left last month after a report that Fox and O'Reilly had paid
out $13 million to settle harassment claims by five women.
Star anchor Megyn Kelly left Fox in January to join NBC News.
Kelly was one of Ailes' accusers and detailed his behavior in
her best-selling book, "Settle for More." Ailes has denied the
allegations.
Shine has been named in a number of lawsuits alleging sexual
misconduct at the company, and was blamed for not doing more to
prevent it.
Last month, Julie Roginsky, a Democratic political consultant
and Fox News contributor, sued the network and Ailes, accusing
them of denying her a permanent hosting job after she rebuffed
Ailes' sexual advances.
She also sued Shine, asserting that he failed to investigate her
claims.
Shine and Jack Abernethy were appointed co-presidents in August
to lead Fox News in the wake of Ailes' departure.
Abernethy remains co-president of Fox News and chief executive
of Fox Television stations. Suzanne Scott, who was executive
vice president of programming has been promoted to head of Fox
News' programming, and Jay Wallace has been similarly promoted
to head of news, the company said.
The co-president position that Shine held remains open, a Fox
spokeswoman said. It is not clear if Fox will fill that
position.
VETERANS PROMOTED
The promotion of Scott and Wallace does not signal any great
change of direction, as both are Fox News veterans who joined
the company in 1996.
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Scott has also been mentioned in legal action surrounding the
misconduct scandal. In her lawsuit Roginsky alleges that Scott did
not investigate her claims of sexual advances toward her, and was
one of a number of executives that encouraged Fox News contributors
to retaliate against former anchor Gretchen Carlson, who filed the
sexual harassment lawsuit last year against Ailes that eventually
led to his resignation.
Scott is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. A Fox News
spokeswoman declined to comment on behalf of Scott.
Shine will leave the company after helping a transition over the
next few weeks, the cable channel said on Monday.
"Bill has played a huge role in building Fox News to its present
position as the nation's biggest and most important cable channel in
the history of the industry," Rupert Murdoch, co-executive chairman
of Twenty-First Century Fox, said in a statement announcing Shine's
resignation. "His contribution to our channel and our country will
resonate for many years."
After talk of Shine's departure started last week, Fox News host
Sean Hannity tweeted that Shine's departure would be "the total end"
of Fox News Channel and started a hashtag #Istandwithshine.
Hannity had no statement about Shine's departure, the Fox News
spokeswoman said.
The lawsuits against Fox News continue to mount. On Monday, a Fox
News contributor said in a lawsuit that she was taken off the air
after writing an article about a medical condition that would likely
leave her infertile.
(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel in New York and Narottam Medhora in
Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Bill Rigby)
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