When conservative author and talk radio host Laura Ingraham sits down in the anchor chair on Oct. 30 for the first time as a host on Fox News’ evening lineup, the cable network will be making a multi-prong bet.
The first is that its audience will gladly stomach another evening hour of ardent Donald Trump boosterism. The second is that someone who’s spent the much of her career in radio can translate to television. But the third, and perhaps biggest, gamble is that the notoriously combative and difficult-to-work-with Ingraham can run a functioning show.
Already, there are signs of trouble.
A number of Fox staffers are dreading the possibility of working for Ingraham, who, even among the healthy egos that populate America’s cable newsrooms, has built a reputation as overbearing. According to numerous sources, Ingraham has been, occasionally, a verbally abusive boss, who will not hesitate to scream at employees if something goes awry. Two former employees of her radio show recounted to The Daily Beast separate instances of Ingraham hurling objects at staff members in displeasure. Though Fox declined to address most specific examples of her conduct, the channel issued a blanket denial of such allegations.
Cable news is full of abrasive and demanding figures, most of them men. But whereas some shows keep the host distant from the production, leaning heavily on executive producers and other high-level staffers instead, Fox prime-time shows tend to be more host-driven, one senior official at the channel said.
For those on her direct staff, that means a daily dose of a demanding, hands-on managerial style. Ingraham has brought only a few staffers with her to the network, leaving Fox to assign other employees to the show. That includes executive producer Tommy Firth, who was moved over from The Story, Martha MacCallum’s 7 p.m. weeknight program.
But three Fox sources tell The Daily Beast that numerous staffers have been actively hoping—“praying,” in one Fox insider’s words—that they do not get re-assigned to Ingraham’s show. Another Fox employee simply described her as a “known tyrant.”
Sources spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid reprisal. Ingraham did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
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New: Laura Ingraham's notorious treatment of staff, a longtime DC open secret, has Fox staff nervous. @swin24 and me https://t.co/KVDOPrfT9B
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 23, 2017
To me Laura always appeared to be difficult, so if this story is true, it wouldn’t surprise me. I worked for female bosses and many of them were tough, abrasive and downright abusive, especially to women who worked under them. I guess they have to be tough, working in a previously male-only environment, but there is no excuse for them to treat their subordinates so poorly.
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