Sean Hannity Worried Over 'Total End Of FNC'

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity took to Twitter Thursday to defend embattled Fox News co-president Bill Shine following a report that suggested Shine’s future with the network could be on unsteady ground, reports Variety.

“Gäbe i pray this is NOT true because if it is, that’s the total end of the FNC as we know it. Done. Best Sean,” Hannity tweeted, with a link to Gabe Sherman’s New York magazine story citing unnamed sources who claimed that Shine has become worried about what he perceives as lack of public support for him from 21st Century Fox leaders Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch. Hannity then apologized for inserting a diaeresis into Sherman’s name, writing, “Ha. Gabe sorry about the 2 dots. I couldn’t do that again if I tried. Best Sean.”

Somebody HIGH UP AND INSIDE FNC is trying to get an innocent person fired. And Gabe I KNOW WHO it is. Best Sean https://t.co/W3BJ2wjzRD

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 27, 2017

Hannity and Shine have a long history at the 21st Century Fox-owned cable-news outlet. Hannity recommended that Fox News hire Shine early in the network’s history, and Shine was an early producer on “Hannity & Colmes,” one of the first primetime programs on the network’s schedule.

Bill Shine

Meanwhile, The NYTimes is reporting it is unusual for a television anchor to weigh in publicly on sensitive internal matters at a network. But Shine’s job security has been a matter of intense speculation inside Fox News’s Manhattan newsroom, which is still reeling from the forced exit of Bill O’Reilly in the wake of revelations that Bill O’Reilly and Fox News had paid millions to settle accusations of harassment.

Shine was a loyal lieutenant to Ailes, and his continued role in newsroom leadership has been cited by women’s groups and some newsroom employees as a sign that Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, is not serious about reforming the workplace culture embodied by Mr. Ailes and Mr. O’Reilly.

He has been cited in at least four lawsuits against the network brought by current or former employees. Among the accusations are claims that Mr. Shine ignored or dismissed concerns about harassment, enabled or concealed Mr. Ailes’s harassment and, in one instance, made racially charged remarks.

Mr. Shine has denied all wrongdoing.  A spokesman for 21st Century Fox declined to comment on Thursday.

But Rupert Murdoch, its executive chairman, went to lunch this week with Mr. Shine and Fox News’s other co-president, Jack Abernethy, at a prominent restaurant on Central Park South, which was widely seen as a sign of support.