Following the resignation of Fox News chief Roger Aile due to a sexual harassment scandal, a clause in Greta Van Susteren’s contract gave her a chance to resign too. But rather than resign, she decided to renegotiate her pay. However, Fox executives rejected her proposal and relieved her of her job, delivering a letter of termination to her home through a courier.
In 2016, Greta Van Susteren was listed on Forbes as the 94th most powerful woman in the world. She worked with Fox News from 2002 to 2016, hosting the show On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. She later joined MSNBC where she hosted For the Record with Greta. She hosted the show for six months before ending the program because it had a low rating.
While Greta has worked at a few media houses, she is more famous for her time on Fox. Even though she hoped for a glorious and celebrated exit from the news network despite the fallout she had with the management, the events that unfolded and led to her immediate exit was one that humiliated the media personality. Here are deets into what transpired while she was on Fox and why she was booted out unceremoniously, much to her shock.
Greta Van Susteren Had a Fallout with the Owner of Fox Before She was Dismissed
Greta Van Susteren is a media icon you would not believe could have been dismissed with a letter delivered by a courier to her apartment. This happened after working with Fox News for 14 years (2002–2016). The courier served her a letter at her home in Washington D.C that said she was taken off the air immediately. Although she was already planning to leave, she never expected such an embarrassing layoff.
Her husband, John Coale, who is a high-profile Washington lawyer, has commented that it was immature of the company to cut her off from the show without giving her the chance to say goodbye. He also threatened litigation in the future, but he refused to comment further when asked about how he will go about it.
Greta Van Susteren said although she was having a rough patch with Fox and was already planning her exit, she thought she would be able to anchor the 7 pm show for a few weeks before leaving. She felt bad that after 14 years of dedicated service to the news platform, she wasn’t given a chance to say goodbye to her fans before her exit.
According to internal sources, Murdoch, the owner of Fox, had picked offense with Greta’s plan to renegotiate her contract. The source claims that the courier service visit was a way to let the media icon know that the company was severely cutting ties with her. It wasn’t until an hour after the dispatcher had delivered the letter that the network went on air to announce her departure.
The company went further to delete the “On the Record” website, and also removed her biography, including her Gretawire blog. This was done to remove any trace of her existence on FoxNews.com.
Greta Claimed She was Already Tired of Fox News Before the Unfortunate Events
Greta Van Susteren went live on Facebook to further explain her side of the story. She claims that she had not felt at home for some years at the network and thus wanted to leave by taking advantage of a clause in her contract that said she could leave immediately. The clause was triggered by the resignation of Fox News chief Roger Aile due to a sexual harassment scandal. The clause had been that if Ailes left, Greta Van Susteren had the chance to leave too.
When Greta Van Susteren came back for renegotiation, she was asking for a big pay, however, Fox executives rejected the proposal and also visited her with wrath.
Other sources have claimed that Greta Van Susteren was unhappy with the way the former chief Ailes was running the network. Despite her defending Fox in public, she had a private disagreement with the management. And after Ailes left, she didn’t see things becoming any better.
Greta Van Susteren had a 60-day window period to leave after Ailes’s resignation; time was running out and her terms were not being met. She had no option than to send her resignation letter. Greta and her husband Coale were expecting a glorious exit and also thought Fox would allow her to continue hosting for some time, which would have made the transition smooth for the two parties. Instead, Fox had to create a dramatic scene by using a courier to send a relief letter and also terminating her appointment immediately.
It is a norm in the broadcasting industry for a host to be given some time on air after they have tendered their resignation, but it wasn’t the same for the case of Greta. Brit Hume was immediately appointed to replace her. She is working as a political analyst on the Fox network.
Overview of Greta Van Susteren’s Career in the Media Industry
Greta Van Susteren has had an impressive career in the broadcasting industry. She is popular for interviewing famous politicians, especially presidential candidates.
She interviewed then US Vice President Mike Pence in 2018 for the Voice of America. She also weighed in during the President Clinton impeachment debate where she refuted the argument that says adultery is an impeachable offense. She also played as a legal analyst on CNN for the O. J. Simpson murder trial.
In 2002, Greta Van Susteren joined Fox news where she hosted the current affairs show, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren. The news network can also boast of big names in the media like Shepard Smith, Melissa Francis, Eboni Williams, Jamie Colby, and others.
She later resigned from Fox News in 2016 without even saying goodbye to her fans, and was immediately replaced with Brit Hume. Although she admitted that there have been some hurdles in the company and she hasn’t felt at home for a few years, she had no option other than to exploit a clause in her contract that gave her the leverage to resign from the network even before the end of her contract.
Greta joined MSNBC in 2017 after her exit from Fox News, where she anchored the News by 6 pm. Her new show, however, did not have enough ratings, prompting her exit from MSNBC. She joined the Voice of America in October 2017 as a director.
Greta Van Susteren is presently a member of the board of directors at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD). The NICD was created after the shooting that killed six people and injured 13, including the U.S representative Gabby Giffords. She later joined Gray Television as its chief national political analyst. She gave commentary and analysis which was aired on Gray’s 140 stations. Van Susteren, in April 2019, anchored another program called Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren which was a Sunday morning talk show.
