Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and Bill O’Reilly’s careers all ended with scandal and disgrace. The heyday of alpha anchors appears to be over. Each of the multi-million dollar new anchors was fired for sexual misconduct in the workplace. Former CBS News president Andrew Heyward predicted that the recent firings of Rose and other high-profile anchors, as well as the declining ratings for the programs and networks they left, might finally leave a lasting lesson on cable and broadcast executives: sexism and misogyny will no longer be tolerated on news teams. The industry has been known for both. But now, with the abrupt sackings of well-known and well-compensated leading men, something else became clear: maybe the big-name news anchors didn’t matter as much as everyone thought they did. Viewership of Lauer’s and O’Reilly’s shows has not suffered without Lauer and O’Reilly. The system was encouraged by the anchors and their agents, as well as industry executives. Industry insiders are now questioning why NBC News Chairman Andy Lack’s decision to pay a reported $23 million a year to lure Megyn Kelly from Fox News, especially since her show has been underperforming. According to network news analyst Andrew Tyndall, Kelly was the maybe the last big news anchor to get in before the industry changes.
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