Fox News on-air talent and The Five co-host Jesse Watters will host a the network's weekly Fox News Primetime news/talk show,  the network said Monday.

The new series, Jesse Watters Primetime, launches Jan. 24 and makes Watters the  permanent host for the 7 pm (ET) news/talk show series, which has featured rotating hosts since Fox News moved on-air host Martha MacCallum out of the timeslot in January of 2021. Watters’ weekend show Watters’ World will be discontinued, with a replacement program to be announced at a later date, according to the network. 

“Jesse’s versatility and hosting acumen has grown exponentially over the last five years, and he has developed a deep connection to the audience through two hit shows The Five and Watters’ World,’ said Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott in a statement. “We look forward to watching him expand his connection even further through this new solo weeknight hour.”

Added Watters: “I’m thrilled to take on this new challenge and am grateful for the opportunity.” ■ 

Broadcast and cable primetime newscasts are the most gender-equitable news platforms, while print newspapers and wire services are the least, according to a new analysis by the Women‘s Media Center, that found, overall, a continuing media gender gap.

The center did not look at local broadcast news, only cable and broadcast network primetime newscasts as well as print, wire services and some major internet sites.

The survey found an even 50/50 split of women and men among the anchors and correspondents on the prime time weekday network evening newscasts, but from their the equity meter headed in the wrong direction. Of the online news stories studied, 57% were by men and 43% by women. For wire services, 63% of the bylines were men and 37% women.

Print remained the most male-centric, with 69% of the stories by men and 31% by women. Among the most male top-heavy papers was the Los Angeles Times with 81% men to 19% women.

Among the evening news broadcasts, the survey found that the majority of newscasts anchored by women — CBS‘s Norah O’Donnell, CNN’s Erin Burnett, MSNBC‘s Joy Reid and PBS‘s Judy Woodruff — tended to have more women anchors, hosts, correspondents and reporters. The exception was Fox News Channel‘s The Story with Martha McCallum.

But the newscast with the least percentage of women anchors, hosts, correspondents and reporters was ABC's World News Tonight (anchored by David Muir) with 28%, followed by NBC Nightly News (anchored by Lester Holt) at 34%, then Fox News‘s The Story with Martha McCallum at 39%. The network newscast with the highest percentage of women was The ReidOut on MSNBC (anchored by Joy Reid) at 70%, to 30% men.

But while MSNBC had the most women on the network newscast side, it had the least on its website, with 88% of the stories by men and only 12% by women. CNN was the most balanced with 54% of the stories by women to 46% by men.

Overall the outlets, the most male-dominated category of reporting is on sports, with 87% of the stories on broadcast, cable, print and wires by men and 13% by women. But that gap is much narrower in broadcast and cable, with women reporting 40% of the sports stories and men 60%.

The survey was based on an analysis of 62,002 "pieces of news content" Jan. 1-March 31, 2021, collected from the top 14 newspapers by circulation, seven primetime newscasts on “major broadcast and cable networks” two newswires and seven “major” internet sites. The networks were ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. The internet sites were CNN.com, HuffPost, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, New York Times, The Washington Post and Vox.

Fox News is planning extensive live coverage of Tuesday's (Jan. 5) run-off elections for two Georgia Senate seats. The results will determine whether Republicans or Democrats control that chamber.

Coverage begins Monday night (Jan. 4) with a two-hour special (6-8 p.m.), The Battle for America: The Georgia Senate Runoffs with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, hosted by Special Report's Baier and The Story's McCallum.

On Tuesday, Bill Hemmer will anchor Bill Hemmer Reports at 3 p.m. from Atlanta, while MacCallum will guest anchor Your World with Neil Cavuto (4 p.m.), also from Georgia.

Hemmer will break down the numbers on election eve while anchor Shannon Bream will report from Washington on Fox News Vote Analysis data.

Also pitching in on election coverage will be Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace, senior political analyst Brit Hume The Five's Dana Perino and Jual Williams, as well as correspondents deployed throughout the state.

Gillian Turner and Jon Scott will anchor overnight coverage at 1-4 a.m.

Fox News Channel has reached a long-term deal with on-air host Martha MacCallum, the network said Thursday.

As part of the deal, MacCallum will remain host of FNC’s The Story With Martha MacCallum as well as continue her contributions to FNC’s election coverage, said network officials.

The Story has posted a 13% increase in total viewers during the 7 pm hour since its launch on May 1 versus the same time period on 2016, according to the network.

Prior to The Story, MacCallum anchored The First 100 Days, which chronicled the start of the new administration and continued until President Trump’s 100th day in office. For the first quarter of 2017, The First 100 Days delivered the most-watched quarter in network history for the 7 pm time period.

"Over the past 12 years, Martha has built a relationship with our viewers based on her engaging personality and trustworthiness,” said Suzanne Scott, FNC president of programming in a statement. “She has proven herself to be an essential component of the network’s programming.”