Fox News Drops 'Fair And Balanced' Slogan After 21 Years

The network is trying to distance itself from former CEO Roger Ailes.
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Fox News is dropping its famous slogan “Fair and Balanced” in an effort distance itself from workplace scandals that have plagued the network in recent years, New York magazine reports.

The slogan has been a part of the network since its creation by Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch in 1996. But the slogan had become a point of mockery in recent years as sexual harassment scandals against Ailes and other network figures began to build, according to New York magazine.

Ailes, who died in May, built Fox News into cable’s highest-rated news network.

A single sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes in July 2016 cascaded into a slew of allegations of harassment and racial discrimination as people associated with the network came forward. Ailes stepped down shortly after, but the network could not shake allegations of a hostile work environment.

Polls in 2011 showed that 46 percent of the public believed the “Fair and Balanced” tagline to be true. When controlled for partisanship, 77 percent of Republicans believed the motto, but 66 percent of Democrats did not believe it.

A Fox News spokesperson confirmed that the network hasn’t used the slogan in external marketing or on-air promotions since August 2016, but said “the shift has nothing to do with programming or editorial decisions.”

Fox News will continue the tagline, “Most Watched. Most Trusted.”

This article has been updated with a statement from Fox News.

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