Fox News has a larger problem than the leadership shakeup that hit Thursday when Chairman and CEO
Roger Ailes resigned, according to Adam Epstein at the website
Quartz.
The real problem, Epstein writes, is Fox News' aging viewership. The median age of the conservative news channel is 68 — meaning that half its viewers are older than that. And replacing them with younger viewers as they die off won't be an easy task without retooling the programming format.
But dropping the staunch conservative tilt too soon would likely drive away its faithful viewers, so James and Lachlan Murdoch, sons of News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch, face a challenge, Epstein argues.
Ailes resigned on Thursday after days of intense negotiations when an internal probe found more female employees who said Ailes had sexually harassed them. Ailes has denied the allegations that stem from a lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson. "Kelly File" anchor Megyn Kelly reportedly told the internal investigators she, too, had been harassed by Ailes 10 years ago.
The 85-year-old Rupert Murdoch said he will serve as "acting CEO" until Ailes' replacement is found. Ailes' agreement with Fox allows him to remain as a consultant until 2018.