Fox News Channel has named network veteran Jennifer Griffin as its new chief national security correspondent as part of a new multi-year agreement.

Griffin has reported on national security issues around the world for more than 30 years, covering every major story impacting the United States’s security at home and abroad, the network said.

Prior to serving as the network's national security correspondent, Griffin was the network's Jerusalem correspondent. Before joining Fox News, Griffin covered the Middle East region for NPR, U.S. News & World Report and other U.S. news agencies.

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“Jennifer is one of the industry's premier journalists and has proven to be an indispensable asset on a consequential beat with unrivaled experience spanning more than three decades in multiple war zones,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement. “We are extremely proud that she will continue her incredible career at Fox News Media.” ■

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.” ■ 

Fox News unveiled a new Washington newsroom and studios with a ribbon-cutting Thursday night (Sept. 30) in advance of the top-rated cable news network's 25th anniversary Oct. 7.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch did the ribbon-cutting honors for the newly reopened bureau, flanked by Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and president and executive editor Jay Wallace. 

Actually, it is two studios, a digital tech platform for video graphics and a reconfigured newsroom according to Bret Baier, who reported on the new digs on Special Report.

The studio’s Green Room is named after the late Fox contributor Charles Krauthammer and the new radio studio after the late host of Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow.

Fox News Media has signed former Tennessee Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. as a contributor, the network said Tuesday.

The former Congressman will offer commentary across all Fox News Media platforms, including Fox News and FOX Business Network’s daytime and primetime programming, said the company.

“Harold has been a valuable guest on Fox News and I am pleased that our millions of viewers will continue to benefit from his insights derived from a highly accomplished career in both the business and government sectors,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement. 

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott has been signed to a multi-year contract renewal, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced Tuesday.

Fox News’ ratings rose with the election season but dropped after Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden. On Fox’s earnings call with analysts, Murdoch said that the ratings decline were expected and “consistent with prior cycles.”

Murdoch predicted ratings would improve and that there were already signs of a comeback. 

"We fully expect that the overall news audience will normalize and our share of ratings will dominate," he said. "In fact, this trend is already beginning as we have seen substantial share gains versus our competition since the inauguration."

.He added that he is “happy” with recent programming changes at Fox News, including the addition of a show featuring Larry Kudlow to Fox Business Network.

He did not mention the cancellation of Lou Dobbs’ show or the billion-dollar lawsuit that named Dobbs and other Fox News on-air competitors. 

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Scott was named CEO of Fox News in 2018, after the channel’s founder, the late Roger Ailes, was removed amid sexual harassment lawsuits. She has been with Fox News for 25 years.

“Suzanne’s stellar leadership and business acumen is evident across Fox News Media,” Murdoch said. “Her investments in the people and purpose of Fox News have enabled us to shatter ratings records, build a leading multi-platform news brand and create a more collaborative and inclusive internal culture. Suzanne’s track record of success, innovative sprit and dedication to excellence make her the ideal person to continue to lead and grow Fox News.”

Viewers could not get enough of TV news during the 2016 presidential election, spelling a windfall for the top news outlets. Needless to say, Donald Trump’s move to the White House has helped keep the ratings robust. Viewers look to the journalists they most respect to assess our nation’s new leadership and the sizzling issues that divide us, and to break down the latest developments in a coherent, and appealing, manner.

We spotlight 10 of the most influential figures in TV news today. Whether they’re network brass or on-air talent, on broadcast or cable, or focused on morning or evening news, we highlight who is making the most of their perch in the news game, and leaving the largest mark on the industry. Among the top anchors, one thing becomes clear: The stoic demeanor that has long defined the role is anything but required.

Who is most masterfully using newer media platforms? Who is doing the best job of tackling Trump? Who is leaving the concept of fake news far, far behind?

Our top TV news players make a case for the answers.

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JOHN DICKERSON
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent; Host, Face the Nation

Dickerson had a tough act to follow when he succeeded Bob Schieffer as Face the Nation host two years ago. But he has done a bang-up job, with an expert’s knowledge of the hot political issues, and a knack for knocking power players off their script with incisive questions.

“He stepped into giant shoes, and I think he filled them well,” former CBS News president Andrew Heyward said.

Dickerson put in a dozen years covering politics at Time, and then did a memorable stint at Slate.com before joining CBS News in 2009, decades after his mother was a producer there.

He has displayed a knack for maneuvering deftly on the newer platforms, hosting the podcast Whistlestop, which chronicles great moments in presidential history; running a lively blog on Tumblr; and amassing 2.17 million Twitter followers.

Dickerson showed his interviewing mettle when he pushed President Donald Trump in April on comments made about President Barack Obama tapping his phone. Trump ended up walking out during the questioning. “How delicious it is to see Trump’s protestations about ‘fake news’ come straight back in his face,” Erik Wemple said in The Washington Post. — Michael Malone

RACHEL MADDOWHost, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC

MSNBC topped CNN in primetime among viewers 25-54 in the second quarter, and much of the credit for the major momentum goes to Maddow. The onetime Air America Radio host is now very much a full-blown TV star, averaging 2.5 million total viewers in the second quarter in her 9 p.m. slot, and emerging as a voice of reason in the key younger demo.

The Rachel Maddow Show premiered in 2008 and found its voice during the Obama administration. When Trump took over the presidency, Maddow and Co. were ready to rock. NBC News chairman Andrew Lack set out to remake MSNBC as a nonpartisan news channel, but it is liberal personalities, such as Maddow, that define the network. Her steely focus on the administration’s missteps, including its connection with Russia, is music to the ears of many Americans who disapprove of the president.

Fellow MSNBC host Chris Hayes, speaking in Rolling Stone, referred to Rhodes scholar Maddow as “a master of the medium,” with a knack for smart storytelling and a tireless work rate. — MM

ROLAND MARTIN
Anchor, NewsOne Now, TV One

Roland Martin is unapologetic about delivering breaking news and top issues of the day from an African-American perspective — one that is often ignored by mainstream cable channels — on his four-year-old, one-hour TV One morning news show, NewsOne Now.

From topics such as health care to issues relating to gun violence, the former CNN on-air reporter and the recipient of the 2013 Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists continues to provide African-American viewers with a forum to discuss and examine how such issues affect their lives. As a result, 2016 was NewsOne Now’s most-watched year ever.

Martin’s powerful voice on such issues has led TV One to expand NewsOne Now to two hours beginning this fall. “Since we launched the show, our audience has been clamoring for more coverage of the issues they wanted to talk about from their own perspective, so the extra hour gives us more opportunities to do more news or to go deeper into stories,” Martin said this past April during the network’s upfront presentation. — R. Thomas Umstead

JORGE RAMOS
Anchor, Noticiero Univision; Host, Al Punto

Ramos is a man for all platforms. He has been Univision’s Noticiero anchor since 1986, writes a weekly column for a variety of newspapers and provides daily radio commentary on Radio Univision. He is also host of the weekly public-affairs show Al Punto and the young adult Englishlanguage newscast America With Jorge Ramos on Fusion.

The Hispanic community sees Ramos as more than a journalist; he is also viewed as an advocate for their most heartfelt issues. When Ramos was ejected from a Donald Trump press conference in August 2015 after posing a question about immigration, many viewers felt they were being booted out, too.

Like his viewers, Ramos sees immigration as more than a political issue. “This is personal,” Ramos told CNN after his ejection. “When he’s talking about immigrants, he’s talking about me.”

Ramos, a Mexican-American, delivers the evening news with Maria Elena Salinas. In 2015, he made the list of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. Said Christiane Amanpour in Time: “He knows he has a voice and is not afraid to use it. He shouts from every rooftop that Hispanic rights are human rights.” — MM

ROBIN ROBERTS
Co-Anchor, Good Morning America, ABC

Roberts has been a rock in morning news, and the most vital element in GMA’s total-viewers winning streak. And while NBC’s Today retains the 25-54 title, GMA this past spring seized the Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Morning Show.

Roberts has been co-anchor since 2005. Viewers respond to her genuine nature, and she’s responsible for the upbeat mood that dominates the set; absent is the wall between talent and crew one finds at other network programs. Roberts’s effusive demeanor is also essential to the chatty roundtable GMA uses to present the news.

She is, in short, “America’s broadcasting sweetheart,” said The New York Times.

If that seems like a lofty title for a morning news anchor, look at the news revenue figures. Morning news rang up $836.5 million in 2016 revenue, said Pew Research Center, nearly double evening news’s $420.9 million.

The GMA host isn’t limited to mornings. Roberts’s “intimate conversations” podcast, “Everybody’s Got Something,” recently returned for season two. Her Rock’n Robin Productions produced the ABC specials Game Changers and Thank You, America, among others. — MM

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY
CEO, Newsmax

Hundreds of journalists cover the day-to-day machinations of President Trump, but few if any have the inside access to him that Ruddy does. The 52-year-old CEO of the conservative-leaning Newsmax media juggernaut arguably makes as much news as he breaks via his website, newsletter and cable news channel.

Dubbed the “Trump whisperer” by The Washington Post, Ruddy is not shy about touting his longtime friendship with the president. In early June — hours after being seen leaving the White House — Ruddy was quoted by the mainstream press as saying that Trump was considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Ruddy also made headlines two weeks ago, speaking out against Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed merger with Tribune Media, telling Multichannel News that Trump himself “warned about the concentration of media power.” Ruddy is an “outsider who has insider access and, more importantly, is willing to share it,” CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter said in a June 13 column. — RTU

SUZANNE SCOTT
President, Programming & Development, Fox News Channel

It has been a brutal year at Fox News Channel, starting with Roger Ailes’s resignation, and including star host Bill O’Reilly’s departure in April and co-president Bill Shine’s in May. But the Murdochs have said they are determined to change its culture, and Scott is well-positioned to leave a lasting mark.

A 20-plus-year veteran of Fox News, she was named executive vice president of programming last summer and president of programming in May. Scott has her work cut out for her in winning over skeptical staff. She is named in multiple lawsuits against Fox News leadership, and was seen by many as a loyal deputy to Shine and to Ailes. Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman said Scott was responsible for enforcing his dress code — miniskirts — for female talent. Fox News says Sherman is incorrect in his reporting about Scott being involved with a dress code policy.

Still, Scott is in a key position to remake the place in a less controversial public image. She moved Tucker Carlson Tonight from 9 p.m. to O’Reilly’s former slot at 8 p.m. and debuted the freewheeling Fox News Specialists in May. And with FNC retaining ratings gusto despite the loss of key players, she’s off to a promising start. — MM

JAKE TAPPER
Chief Washington Correspondent, CNN; Host, The Lead and State of the Union

Tapper earned a lofty description from an admiring The Washington Post earlier this year: “The conscience of cable news,” the paper wrote, giving him points for bluntly calling out President Trump for “falsehoods and other strange conduct.”

Indeed, the host of weekday show The Lead and Sunday series State of the Union readily reports on the at-times funky facts emerging from the White House. Upon accepting the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Tribute Award last month (his mother is Canadian), Tapper said he became a journalist “to hold people in power accountable, to try to tell stories other journalists weren’t telling and to try to have serious discussions about the way policies impact people’s lives.”

He’ll get another award in September, when the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) gives him its John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award for standout journalism. But the year’s highlight for Tapper, a cartoonist before the journalism kicked in, may have been when he was asked to lend those talents to the Mad magazine book MAD About Trump.

Deborah Jaramillo, director of the graduate film and television studies program at Boston University, and author of the cable news book Ugly War, Pretty Package, said Tapper’s facial expressions on-air say almost as much as his questions. “It’s interesting that he lets his frustrations show,” she said. — MM

CHUCK TODDNBC News Political Director; Host of Meet the Press (NBC) and MTP Daily (MSNBC)

U.S. politics has no larger TV figure than Chuck Todd. Thanks to Todd’s political expertise, NBC easily topped its broadcast brethren in Election Night ratings. “He knows what’s going on inside the Beltway,” news analyst Andrew Tyndall said.

Todd took on the Meet the Press host role from David Gregory in 2014 — the show had fallen into last place — and reviews focused on his straight-talking perspective, which multiple critics said reminded them of the legendary Tim Russert. The New York Times said, “Todd may still be the substitute teacher, but he looks like he could quickly master the class.”

Tyndall suggested Todd has done so, calling him “the political scientist” among the Sunday morning hosts.

Todd is not above showing his frustration with a guest when the situation allows, Jaramillo noted. That makes him “a champion for a lot of people who feel they’re under threat,” she said. — MM

JEFF ZUCKER
President, CNN Worldwide

With the country so divided along political lines, it’s a boon for Fox News Channel and MSNBC and their ideologically driven primetime programming. Yet Zucker sees the split as an opportunity for CNN. He told The New York Times that CNN viewers are akin to undecided voters, which President Trump is looking to “sway” because they’re not watching Fox News or MSNBC.

Zucker also told the Times that CNN is on track to earn more than $1 billion in profit this year. “He’s on a roll,” news analyst Andrew Tyndall said. “He’s the king of all cable news at the moment.”

Zucker has focused CNN on Trump ever since the Donald took that fateful glide down the Trump Tower escalator two years ago. The president’s disdain for CNN grows every day, and the network’s missteps, including the resignations of three journos after a faulty story about a Trump ally, only gave him more ammunition. But those setbacks have the hyper-competitive Zucker even more motivated to focus his 3,500 staffers on doing a standout job.

Tyndall said CNN has joined The Washington Post and The New York Times as “central players” in vital Trump news. — MM

This story was updated on July 31 to include a Fox News rebuttal.

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.”

Fox News Channel and former chairman Roger Ailes have been hit with another sexual harassment suit.

Anchor Andrea Tantaros filed a complaint in New York State Supreme Court and named Fox News Channel and several of its executives, including Ailes, recently named co-president Bill Shine, programming head Suzanne Scott, counsel  Dianne Brandi and public relations chief Irena Briganti.

Ailes resigned last month following a similar sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson and an investigation by parent company 21st Century Fox that turned up complaints by other female Fox News staffers. Fox News said it does not comment on pending litigation.

Tantaros said in the suit, “Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.”

Tantaros also charged that Ailes did not act alone. “He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation,” her suit said.

She added that 21st Century Fox’s top execs, Rupert, James and Lachlan Murdoch, “have been misleading the public into believing that they are taking action. In fact, they have done the opposite.”

In the suit, Ailes is accused of making inappropriate comments like “turn around so I can get a good look on you” -- a request so common at Fox News it was referred to as “The Twirl” -- and “I bet you look good in a bikini.”

“Perhaps the most shocking encounter of all,” the suit said, “was a Spring 2015 meeting between Tantaros and Fox News senior xxecutive, defendant William Shine, during which Tantaros sought relief from Ailes’s sexual harassment. In response, Shine told Tantaros that Ailes was a ‘very powerful man’ and that Tantaros ‘needed to let this one go.’ Yet, after Ailes was revealed to be a sexual predator and forced to resign, Shine was promoted to co-president of Fox News. Shine’s inexplicable elevation sends the message that it will be ‘business as usual’ at Fox News when it comes to the treatment of women.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.