Report: Fox Quietly Searching For New News Chief

The company has quietly put out feelers for a possible new head of Fox News with the preference, say sources, that it be a woman.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Murdochs may be preparing for a leadership change at Fox News. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, CEO and co-chairman of Fox News parent 21st Century Fox, have quietly put out feelers for a new head of Fox News. And the preference, according to two sources familiar with the Murdochs’ thinking, is that the new leader be female.

The move comes as pressure is building on Bill Shine, a 20-year Fox News veteran whom Rupert Murdoch elevated to co-president, with Jack Abernethy, of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network in the wake of the ouster of founding CEO Roger Ailes last summer.

Shine runs the programming arm of the media empire, while Abernethy, also a longtime Fox News executive, runs the business side of the company including ad sales, finance and distribution.

On April 24, a few days after the network dismissed Bill O'Reilly, Rupert Murdoch took Shine and Abernethy to lunch; the outing was interpreted as a public show of support and chronicled on multiple media sties.

In December, Shine and Abernethy announced a new head of human resources.