# Suzanne Scott CEO of Fox News Media, overseeing all aspects of the network's operations, programming, and editorial direction. Scott is the highest-ranking executive at the network day-to-day — a position of enormous influence given [[Fox News]]'s role as the central hub of the right-wing media ecosystem. ## Background and Rise at Fox Scott joined Fox News at its launch in 1996 and rose through the programming ranks over two decades. She became CEO of Fox News Media in 2018, succeeding Rupert Murdoch's direct management after [[Roger Ailes]]'s ouster in 2016 and Bill Shine's brief tenure. Her long institutional history at the network means she is a product of the Murdoch/Ailes culture — she understands the network's political function and has managed it accordingly. ## Managing the MAGA Era Scott's tenure as CEO has coincided with Fox News's most politically fraught period. The 2020 election, the Capitol riot, the Dominion lawsuit, and [[Tucker Carlson]]'s firing all fell on her watch. Her management of these crises reflected the fundamental tension at the network: Fox's business model is built on a MAGA audience, but its editorial decisions (like calling Arizona for Biden on election night 2020) are made by professionals who understand actual electoral data. The pressure from that audience — and from figures like Trump and [[Sean Hannity]] who have direct lines to the base — constrained Scott's ability to apply normal editorial standards to Fox's 2020 election coverage, a constraint documented in brutal detail in the Dominion discovery documents. ## The Dominion Settlement Scott was a central figure in the [[Fox News]] [[Dominion Voting Systems]] defamation litigation. Discovery documents showed that she was aware of the gap between what Fox was broadcasting (election fraud claims) and what Fox executives privately believed. The $787.5 million settlement — the largest defamation settlement in American media history — was the outcome she ultimately managed, averting the reputational and legal risk of a full trial. ## Tucker Carlson's Firing One of Scott's most significant executive decisions was the termination of Tucker Carlson in April 2023 — the network's highest-rated host — shortly after the Dominion settlement. The exact reasons for the firing have never been fully disclosed publicly, though various accounts point to internal disputes over working conditions, concerns about legal liability from his private communications exposed in discovery, and tensions with [[Rupert Murdoch]] over Carlson's direction. ## Position in the Ecosystem Scott is the institutional manager of the right-wing media ecosystem's most important node. Her decisions about programming, talent, and editorial direction have outsized effects on what the American conservative base believes and prioritizes. She operates in the intersection of corporate media management and political influence — a position that requires serving [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s business interests, managing volatile on-air talent like [[Sean Hannity]] and [[Laura Ingraham]], and navigating the political demands of the MAGA movement that is the network's core audience.