Former White House communications director Hope Hicks will soon take over corporate communications at Fox. Next year, Hicks will become executive vice president and communications director for the company that will be spun off after the Walt Disney Company finishes its purchase of most of 21st Century Fox.
The new job marks quite a shift for the 29-year-old Hicks, who was barely known outside the Trump Organization before becoming press secretary to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Many then marveled at her staying power as she managed to stay put at her job even as infighting engulfed much of the president’s cabinet in his first year in office.
Hicks’ new job solidifies the strong connections between the parent company of Fox News and the White House. In fact, Bill Shine, who took over for Hicks as White House communications director, left his job as Fox News Channel senior vice president to work for Trump’s administration. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders sarah was among the first to celebrate the news, writing on Twitter that “FOX won’t find anyone smarter or more talented than Hope Hicks. So happy for my friend. They are beyond lucky to have you and the East Coast misses you already.”
Hicks will be working closely with Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, who will be chairman and chief executive of the new Fox corporation, which will be in charge of Fox News, Fox Sports, and the company’s broadcast network. The company announced last week that the new, smaller Fox will officially be called FOX, in all-caps. Hicks’ “track record of working well with heirs to dynastic families” was likely a “desireable trait for the Murdoch clan,” notes the New York Times.
