Martha MacCallum has signed a new multi-year deal Fox News, where she will continue as anchor and executive editor of the prime-time programme ‘The Story’.
MacCallum will also continue to co-anchor all of the network’s election and special event political coverage as part of the deal, alongside Special Report’s Bret Baier.
In making the joint announcement, Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX News Media and Jay Wallace, its President said; “Martha is a superb journalist which is exemplified nightly by her incredibly strong interviewing skills and first-rate reporting. We are delighted to have her continue anchoring and helping lead the network’s political team for another important election cycle and many years to come.”
MacCallum added, “Each night, it is a privilege and an honour to connect with FOX News Channel’s millions of viewers at 7PM. With the election year in full swing, I couldn’t be more thrilled to continue anchoring with our great team, at the network that has afforded me invaluable experiences over the past 15 years. I’m grateful to Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace and Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch for their continued confidence in me.”
For the last three years, The Story with Martha MacCallum has been the number one cable news program at 7PM/ET in both total viewers and the coveted 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. Previously, MacCallum was the anchor of FNC’s The First 100 Days, which chronicled the beginning of President Donald Trump’s administration, a prelude to launching The Story and taking over the 7PM timeslot in 2017. Prior to joining the early prime-time lineup, she served as co-anchor of America’s Newsroom (weekdays 9-11AM/ET) alongside Bill Hemmer from 2010 to 2017.
Throughout her tenure with the network, MacCallum has played a role in every major political event since the 2004 presidential election. Most recently, she co-anchored FNC’s coverage surrounding the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump, which led all of broadcast and cable coverage in the ratings. In April 2019, MacCallum, alongside FNC’s chief political anchor Bret Baier, co-moderated a town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, which continues to rank as the highest rated town hall featuring a 2020 presidential candidate to date. The duo also co-moderated additional town halls with then-candidate Julian Castro and Democratic presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Ms. MacCallum notably co-anchored live coverage of the 2018 election which marked the highest-rated midterm election coverage in cable news history with total viewers, topping all of broadcast and cable news, according to Nielsen Media Research. Earlier that year, she also landed an exclusive joint interview with then-Supreme Court nominee and now Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh. During that interview, in which MacCallum received widespread praise, Kavanaugh addressed the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct he was up against.
During the 2016 election season, Martha MacCallum co-moderated two Republican presidential primary debates alongside anchor Bill Hemmer in Des Moines, IA and Cleveland, OH with the latter delivering 6.1 million viewers and 1.2 million viewers in the 25-54 key demo. As part of the network’s political team, she has also covered multiple State of the Union addresses, the 75th anniversary of D-Day and earlier in her career, served as the lead reporter on exit poll data and key voting trends. She was also FNC’s lead anchor in London for the 2011 Royal Wedding and the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first child in 2013.
Since joining FOX News in 2004, she has interviewed numerous political leaders and news-makers, including: President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Defence Secretary James Mattis, General David Petraeus, then-Republican presidential candidates Senator John McCain, Gov. Mitt Romney, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former First Lady Laura Bush, former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, Obama White House press secretary Josh Earnest, former presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
Martha MacCallum will release her first book, ”Unknown Valor,” this February, in honour of the 75th Anniversary of the World War II battle at Iwo Jima. The book, which pays tribute to the Marines who fought in the battle, includes Ms. MacCallum’s primary research from Guam to Iwo Jima and first-hand interviews with the veterans who served.
Prior to FNC, Ms. MacCallum held a variety of positions at NBC News from 1997 to 2003. She was co-anchor of CNBC’s Morning Call and was the anchor of CNBC’s Checkpoint, an evening news program focusing on the war on terror and the Iraq War. In 1997 and 2003, she was the recipient of the American Women in Radio and Television award for her reporting while at NBC News. Before joining CNBC, Ms. MacCallum was an anchor and reporter for WBIS-TV (ION-31), a sports and business network in New York in 1996. Prior to that, she was a business correspondent at Wall Street Journal Television where she anchored The Wall Street Journal Report, World Market Outlook and Business USA from 1991-1996. She began her career as a reporter for Corporate Finance magazine.