Fox News parts ways with Maria Bartiromo after 12 and a half years

Fox News Media said on Thursday, 3 September, that Maria Bartiromo has left the company. The statement was one sentence long. The network thanked her “for her work over the last 12 1/2 years”, as Fox News Media put it, and wished her well. It gave no reason for the exit.

Bartiromo joined Fox in 2014 and hosted Mornings with Maria

Bartiromo moved to Fox in 2014. She hosted Mornings with Maria on Fox Business. She also fronted a Sunday programme on Fox News Channel. Her name sat in the title of both shows. That matters commercially. A show built around one person is sold to advertisers on that person.

A voting software company still names Bartiromo in its lawsuit

Bartiromo aired claims of fraud after the 2020 US election. Those claims were never proven in court. Fox later settled a defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems for 787 million dollars. A second voting software company is suing Fox and names Bartiromo personally. NPR reported that she was the last individual defendant in that case who still worked at the network. Fox has not linked her departure to the case.

Fox has not named a permanent host for the morning slot

Fox has not said who will take the morning show for good. Different anchors have been filling in. That works for a few weeks. It is harder to keep up for a year, because sponsors of a named show usually want to know whose name is on it. Newsroom leadership changes get watched for the same reason, which is why a swap like the new editor-in-chief at Poland’s Rzeczpospolita draws advertiser questions too.

Fox Business sells its mornings on a host name

For marketers the practical step is simple. Check what you actually bought. If a package was priced around a named show, ask whether the name is still there and what happens if it is not. Ask for fresh audience figures as well, because ratings often move when a host leaves. The way those figures are produced is changing too, and Nielsen switched on new rules for counting local TV viewing this year. Leadership of a ratings race can also flip fast, as it did when TVN took the top spot in Poland in August.