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FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott participated in a fireside chat on Thursday with University of South Carolina students, discussing media operations and the business of journalism by focusing on culture, collaboration, creativity and change.
Scott was joined by “FOX & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones, who moderated the event that was part of the Baldwin Lecture series for students at the College of Information and Communications. Students were shown a video detailing Fox News Channel’s rise from a startup cable option in 1996 to the multi-platform juggernaut that exists today.
Scott explained that when Fox Corporation Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch announced the network’s launch date shortly after she was hired, they only had five months to get the network up and running. While many would have seen this as an impossible task, Scott saw it as a chance to make an impact.
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“I started entry-level as a programming assistant, I had a great boss who was also a mentor of mine at the time, and we were short staffed, so I just kept raising my hand and asking for opportunities to contribute,” Scott said.
“That five months, it was a lot of long days, seven days a week, but we got the network up and my career got launched through those years,” she continued. “I’m a results-oriented person, and that was why I got a lot of opportunities and promotions.”
Jones then asked Scott to explain key lessons she’s learned on her journey from entry-level staffer to chief executive.
“One thing about my style is I always operate as a startup, I never take my position for granted,” Scott said.
“I embrace change, I always strive for excellence every day and I treat every issue with the utmost importance, but I do always operate in that startup mode. I have four words that are in my head all the time about how to operate as a CEO, and they happen to all begin with C,” she continued. “One is culture, one is creativity, embracing change, the word ‘change’ is very important to me, and one is collaboration.”
Scott said culture, collaboration, creativity and change all coming together helps FOX News Media thrive as an organization.
“I’ve been through quite a journey, being here for 30 years, and the No. 1 most important thing is the culture you create within the organization, for all that’s said about Fox News, it’s the happiest place to work and we have a great team,” Scott said. “I am a people-first person, I try to think of our organization as a big family.”
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The FOX News Media chief executive said it’s critical to have “the best people at every position” throughout the company.
“I believe in surrounding yourself with the best people,” Scott said. “We have the best people across the business and that’s really important.”
Scott said that she’s always enjoyed working with all different types and ages of people. Among her favorites was TV pioneer Chet Collier, who died in 2007 after a storied career that included helping develop Fox News Channel in 1996.
“He was an old school TV producer, executive. He taught me everything I know about talent and working with talent, producing shows and creating shows, and how to get audiences interested and engaged,” Scott told the students.
She explained that she was “really lucky” to work with Collier so early in her career. He brought her to meetings provided critical opportunities despite being decades more experienced than Scott was at the time.
“I look at those years that I worked for him as a master class program, because it was really a gift,” Scott said.
“I knew how lucky I was. He was imparting all of his wisdom on me. And you know one of the greatest lessons he taught me is a very simple philosophy is ‘people watch people,’” Scott explained.
Collier taught her that people watch people they like, trust, people that don’t talk down to them, and people that know how to connect through the screen.
“One of my talents is spotting people who, I believe, have the ability to do that and develop them, and expand their tool kit so they become an even greater asset to themselves and to what we’re doing as a business,” Scott said.
Scott said there are high expectations for the Fox News family, with plenty of targets and goals, but she understands everyone is human and must work together to succeed.
“I care about people, and I care about their lives and what they’re going through, and I understand that may impact their job from time to time, but that culture of having each other’s back… the collaboration we have altogether, that’s the teamwork mentality. We couldn’t do the job that we do if we didn’t have a strong culture and really collaborate as a team,” she said.
Scott feels that regularly coming up with new ideas and embracing the changes that come along with those new ideas, has been critical to the success of Fox News. Podcasts, social media and other new technologies have changed the way Americans consume news, and Scott sees this as a path for promising new careers.
“You should be on the cutting edge, learning and bringing that to whatever internship or opportunity you get outside of there,” she said.
Since the early stages of Scott’s career, she has looked for candidates with whom “love to win and hate to lose,” because it’s important to bring a “competitive spirit” to Fox News.
Scott told the students they should always accept potential opportunities in order to expand their skill sets. She strongly advised the students to embrace artificial intelligence, which she doesn’t see as a job eliminator but rather another opportunity.
“I actually believe there’s too much doomerism in the storytelling of AI. I actually think AI tools are rapidly growing and anybody who’s young should be getting themselves educated about different AI tools in different industries and how they’re going to be using them,” Scott said
Scott explained that she’s had opportunities to meet AI heavyweights and came away impressed with the technology and has high hopes for the future.
“To me, AI is not a job eliminator,” Scott said, noting that skeptics have a lot of negative things to say about the topic.
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“Again, the C word, change. You have to embrace change. It’s here, there are tools that are going to help you do your job more efficiently, more strategically,” Scott said.
“Being an early adapter, especially as a college student, gives you a big leg up to have the opportunity to bring that experience and knowledge into wherever you work,” she added. “The young generation should really get excited about learning about it, understanding it and having more knowledge so that when you go in, you’re going to be way ahead of your bosses.”
It was easy for Scott to embrace artificial intelligence, who considers herself a “change person.”
“I’m always thinking about what’s the next thing. That’s sort of my style,” she said, telling a story about when she started using the Blackberry roughly 20 years ago.
“I was on the train going home that night, and I was getting emails, and I was able to do my work. This is before the iPhone, and I thought, ‘This is a game changer’ Scott told the students.
“Around that time, I wrote a memo to my boss, ‘Any place, anytime, anywhere,’ she said. “I knew that we were at the thrust of changes in media consumption.”
Two decades later, people can indeed consume media anytime, anyplace, and Scott said the industry will continue to evolve.
“The game is changing; there are change agents in the newsroom. And as producers, as camera operators, the business is changing and growing,” Scott said.
Another example of embracing change is the drone program that was launched by Fox News in 2012 and has grown significantly under her leadership.
“We now have 200 drone pilots. Not just for Fox News, but for Fox TV stations as well,” Scott said. “You have to embrace all different things and new things.”
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