Saturday, March 31, 2018

ANOTHER CONVENIENTLY TIMED VACATION AT FOX NEWS

Variety reports:
Laura Ingraham Says She’ll Take Planned Vacation Amidst Controversy

Laura Ingraham is taking avacation next week. Now the question is whether a controversy swirling around the host will go on hiatus as well.

The popular Fox News Channel host ... told viewers Friday night she would not appear on air next week as she took what she described as a pre-planned break around the Easter holiday with her children. Substitute hosts are expected to fill in for her on the program.
Ingraham, as I'm sure you know, took a cheap shot at Parkland gun control activist David Hogg and is now facing an advertiser boycott.

What's remarkable about this is that it's one of several times in the past year that Fox stars just so happened to have vacations planned when controversy hit.

May 26, 2017:
Sean Hannity is ... going away ... on a planned vacation....

... Hannity ... lost several advertisers this week after repeatedly pushing a baseless conspiracy [about the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich] that was retracted Tuesday by his employer, Fox News Channel. Hannity took the second half of the week off, but before he did, he cautioned his Twitter followers not to worry:

April 11, 2017:
Bill O’Reilly ... told viewers during the last few minutes of his “O’Reilly Factor” broadcast on Tuesday night that he would take a few days off as part of a pre-planned vacation even as controversy swirled around him. He explained that he often takes vacation around the start of spring. “We all need R&R. Put it to good use,” he told viewers. He is expected to return to the air April 24.

“The arrangements, including airline and hotel reservations, for this vacation were made last October. The vacation involves a group of people, and the timing coincides with the period Mr. O’Reilly often takes off in and around his children’s spring break,” said Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for O’Reilly, in an emailed statement.
Oh, and there was this on April 27, 2017:
Jesse Watters, the Fox News host who took heat this week for making a joke about Ivanka Trump that was criticized as lewd, said on Wednesday that he would be taking a family vacation until Monday. The move came just three days after his show began airing in a new high-profile time slot.

Mr. Watters ... announced his upcoming absence near the end of Wednesday night’s edition of “The Five.” He will miss two days of the show’s first week in prime time....

A Fox News spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the vacation had been planned before “The Five” moved to its new time slot....
Whoops! Sounds as if Jesse's vacation was just an excuse to get him off the air temporarily -- unlike the vacations of Hannity, O'Reilly, and Ingraham, which were absolutely pre-scheduled (even though O'Reilly went off the air for good shortly after his).

You see, Jesse, the real pros schedule their controversies so that they take place just before their 100% pre-planned holidays. You should learn from them.

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