It is clear from interviews with people inside Fox News that the network has been shaken to its core.
Ailes is the only CEO Fox News has ever had. He launched the channel in 1996 and ran it as a fiefdom, grooming an entire generation of hosts, reporters and producers who feel indebted to him. He set the cultural tone of the place.
With Ailes deposed -- one veteran staffer compared it to the sudden death of a Middle Eastern strongman -- there is widespread uncertainty about the status of on- and off-air talent alike.
At the moment, the Fox News executive leadership team remains in place. Acting CEO Rupert Murdoch and programming chief Bill Shine, who are said to be running the network side by side, are trying to stabilize things.
But the law firm retained by 21st Century Fox (
FOX) to investigate Ailes' behavior continues to ferret out new information. This so-called internal review by Paul, Weiss, announced on the same day Carlson sued, remains a mystery to Fox News staffers.