Read Rupert Murdoch’s Memo to Fox News Staff: ‘Last Few Weeks Have Been Tough for Everyone’
Company’s acting CEO congratulates staff for “stellar performance” following the exit of Bill O’Reilly from the network
Itay Hod | April 25, 2017 @ 3:55 PM
Last Updated: April 25, 2017 @ 4:26 PM
TheWrap
Rupert Murdoch sent an email to Fox News employees on Tuesday congratulating the network for a “stellar performance” following the ouster of its top draw, Bill O”Reilly.
Though Murdoch never mentions O’Reilly by name, he does acknowledge that “the last few weeks have been tough for everyone here, but our passion for news and commitment to our viewers continue to lead us through.”
As TheWrap reported Monday, the company has been slow to react to the sexual harassment allegations which lead to O’Reilly’s ouster from the network last week. According to several insiders, the company has yet to hold a single company-wide staff meeting about the scandal, with one insider calling Fox’s handling of the situation a disaster.
Fox News dominated its first night in the post-Bill O’Reilly era as “Tucker Carlson Tonight” averaged 3.2 million viewers in the program’s first night occupying the 8 p.m. ET time slot.
The debut of Carlson’s new show in O’Reilly’s former slot was the most-watched cable news program in both viewers and the key news demo of adults age 25-54.
Carlson averaged 636,000 viewers among the key demo to help Fox News finish as the most-watched cable news network during prime time, averaging 582,000 compared to 328,000 demo viewers for CNN and 424,000 demo viewers for MSNBC.
It’s too early to say if Carlson will be able to sustain O’Reilly’s numbers. But as of now he’s been able to keep most of his audience. O’Reilly’s averaged 3.7 million viewers and 635,000 adults 25-54 win his last Monday on Fox.
Last night’s ratings are in and I couldn’t be more proud to announce that, not only did FOX News beat all other cable news competition with our new primetime debut, but we also increased our ratings 31% in total viewers and 54% in the demo compared to last year. This was a stellar performance that couldn’t have happened without the amazing effort and dedication from everyone on the team over the last week.
I know the last few weeks have been tough for everyone here, but our passion for news and commitment to our viewers continue to lead us through.
Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work!
Best,
Rupert Murdoch
Fox News' Jesse Watters: His 10 Most Offensive Moments (Videos)
Shortly after O'Reilly was ousted from Fox News, Watters took his own vacation from the network after coming under fire for making a comment about First Daughter Ivanka Trump, which some interpreted as inappropriate sexual innuendo.
Watters' recurring segment on "The O'Reilly Factor" involved sending the host out to various events and locations across the country for man-on-the-street style interviews that mock various cultural subgroups in their own communities. In a 2016 segment, Watters went after Italian Americans at the Feast of San Gennaro festival.
One of Watters' most controversial segments came in the form of a 2016 venture into New York's Chinatown. In the heavily criticized piece, Watters turned his signature schtick on Chinese Americans, resulting in a blatantly racist segment that played on Asian stereotypes and openly mocked its subjects.
Watters' October 2016 venture to the Amish community in Pennsylvania was turned into one recurring punchline -- over the fact that the Amish don't vote or pay much attention to presidential politics. "Lucky you," he tells several people.
In 2007, O'Reilly sent Watters to ambush Bill Moyers in the street after the PBS host released a documentary criticizing the Bush administration for the Iraq War. Bill O'Reilly would later go on to call that segment a contributing factor in Moyers' decision to retire.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
In 2015, Watters went to Penn Station to criticize the "rise of homelessness" in New York City, pointedly asking those sleeping at the station about their drug habits and what they did to make money on the streets.
On the anniversary of 9/11, Watters went to a convention for Muslim Americans to ask them about terrorism and Islamic radicals. When a woman criticized the media for linking terrorism to the Islamic religion, Watters and O'Reilly both balked at the suggestion that "Christian terrorism" could even exist.
In 2009, Amanda Terkel, then the managing editor of Think Progress, wrote a column in which she said she was "followed, harassed, and ambushed" by Watters while on vacation after she ran a column criticizing Bill O'Reilly for his comments toward rape survivors.
Watters was caught on video getting into a fight at the 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner afterparty with The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim. It was later reported that Grim approached Watters with a camera asking him to apologize to Terkel for his behavior in 2009.
O'Reilly sent Watters to Philadelphia for a tone-deaf segment about racism in which he mocked the Black Lives Matter movement, criticized political correctness and generally failed to elevate the conversation surrounding race relations in America.
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Bill O’Reilly protégé will have permanent seat on network when “The Five” moves to primetime
Shortly after O'Reilly was ousted from Fox News, Watters took his own vacation from the network after coming under fire for making a comment about First Daughter Ivanka Trump, which some interpreted as inappropriate sexual innuendo.
