Fox News' "Fair & Balanced" slogan is being dropped as the network continues to move away from its past with Roger Ailes, the late top executive who coined the phrase, reported New York magazine.
The decision reportedly was made last August after Ailes left Fox News under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations. Fox News's co-president Jack Abernathy felt the phrase had "been mocked" and believed it was "too closely associated" with Ailes.
Ailes, who founded Fox News in 1996 and built it into a cable-rating juggernaut before resigning last July, died on May 18 in Palm Beach.
A Fox News representative confirmed to New York that it is dropping the slogan but said the branding change won't affect programming or editorial decisions.
The Huffington Post said Fox News will continue to use the tagline: "Most Watched. Most Trusted."
"It is hard to overstate the significance of what shedding 'Fair & Balanced' means for Fox News," said New York’s Gabriel Sherman. "Ailes invented the slogan when he launched the network in 1996, and over the years it became a quasi-religious doctrine among Fox's anchors and viewers. The effectiveness of Fox News as a vehicle for conservative ideology depended on it."
"Fair & Balanced," though will be harder to give up for some at Fox News, with the host of "Special Report with Bret Baier" firing off a Twitter post about his own show's tagline Wednesday.
National Public Radio reported last month that since the Fox News lineup shakeup, MSNBC beat Fox News in the weeknight primetime cable news rating for the first time. Bill O'Reilly left the network with his top-rated show "The O'Reilly Factor" in April after the New York Times revealed that Fox News made sexual harassment settlements against the star, noted The Washington Post.
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