Michael Clemente to Oversee New Unit
Jay Wallace Promoted to Executive Vice President News and Editorial
FOX News will launch a new centralized long-form specials unit, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of FOX News. Effective immediately, Michael Clemente will transition from his current position managing news to overseeing this new division as Executive Vice President of News Specials. Jay Wallace will be promoted to Executive Vice President of News and Editorial. Both Clemente and Wallace will report directly to Ailes. FOX News’ current structure consists of two divisions of news and programming, with the latter run by Senior Executive Vice President, Bill Shine, who also oversees FOX Business Network (FBN), and reports to Ailes. The new specials unit now creates a third organizational division.
In this new role, Clemente will oversee all development and production of taped long-form programming, complemented by occasional special live events for FOX News Channel (FNC). The newly formed consolidated unit will now include FNC Editor-at-Large Peter Boyer, Senior Executive Producer and Director of Long-Form Series, Pamela Browne, Executive Producer Martin Hinton and Specials Director of Development, Clay Rawson, all of whom will report to Clemente. Host John Stossel’s quarterly customized specials for FOX News will also be part of this new division.
In making the announcement, Ailes said, “Michael’s wide-ranging broadcast background is perfect for this position — I’m confident that his extensive experience in long-form producing will result in development and execution of high quality specials.”
Ailes added, “Jay’s television journalism acumen has played a major role in the success of FOX News throughout his nearly 20 years here and his leadership during the current election season has especially stood out. He’s both liked and respected throughout the newsroom and I’m certain he’ll excel in this position.”
Wallace, who also runs FOX News Radio, which includes Fox News Headlines 24/7 on Sirius/XM, will assume the position of Executive Vice President of News and Editorial effective immediately. In this role, he will manage the news division, including all political coverage and election season debates and town halls. He will also oversee all daytime weekday and weekend news programming, including America’s Newsroom with Martha MacCallum & Bill Hemmer, Happening Now with Jenna Lee & Jon Scott, The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, America’s News HQ and the Fox Report.
Additionally, he will continue to oversee Shepard Smith Reporting and the FOX News Deck, FNC’s breaking news operation helmed by chief news anchor Shepard Smith. FNC’s key news programs originating from its Washington DC Bureau, including Special Report with Bret Baier, FOX News Sunday and MediaBuzz, will be overseen by Wallace as well.
Wallace will also supervise all newsgathering for the network. John Stack, who has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Newsgathering, will report directly to Wallace and continue to manage FNC’s largest bureaus including New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, London, and Jerusalem. Stack joined FNC in 1999 as Vice President of Newsgathering from NBC News, where he served as director of international partnerships for the network.
In commenting on his new role, Wallace said, “I am honored by the opportunity to lead the amazing team of outstanding journalists assembled by Roger Ailes at such a momentous time in this nation’s history. As FOX News nears its 20th anniversary, I am looking forward to enhancing and expanding the channel’s news influence across all platforms.”
Clemente stated, “It’s an honor to continue working for Roger Ailes, who is a true leader. I’m eager to take on this new role and help consolidate the network’s existing specials units. Long-form programming has always been a passion of mine and I’m excited to transition from day-to-day news coverage to spend more time on deeply reported, compelling stories in this rapidly changing news world.”
In 2009, Clemente joined the network as the Senior Vice President of News Editorial and was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2012. He has managed the production of some of FNC’s most highly regarded specials to date, under the banner of Fox News Reporting, including: Destiny and Power – The Private Diaries of George Herbert Walker Bush, 13 Hours in Benghazi and the most recent, Rising Threats-Shrinking Military. Before joining FNC, Clemente spent 27 years at ABC News, where he led the division’s breaking news specials, and served as senior broadcast producer of 20/20, and World News Tonight.
Previously, Wallace served as Senior Vice President of News and Politics, handling day-to-day management of news programming originating from the New York bureau. He has also run FOX News Radio’s news operation, most recently launching FOX News Radio’s 24/7 Headline News Channel on SiriusXM. Having worked at FNC since its 1996 inception where he began as a tape coordinator, Wallace has risen through the ranks in a number of positions including: New York Bureau Chief, Producer and later Executive Producer of the original FOX Report with Shepard Smith, and Executive Producer of News.
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. A top five cable network, FNC has been the most-watched news channel in the country for more than 14 years and according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll, is the most trusted television news source in the country. Owned by 21st Century Fox, FNC is available in more than 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.
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FOX News Media Contacts:
Dana Klinghoffer/212.301.3534
Carly Shanahan/212.301.3851
