Megyn Kelly is leaving Fox News to join NBC News
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Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is leaving the cable network for a role at NBC News.
In a statement Tuesday on her Facebook page, Kelly said, "I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I've had."
Kelly has been an icon for conservatives, but her decision to move to NBC, a network that President-elect Donald Trump and some conservative pundits have branded as "liberal," is not a complete surprise.
As NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reports, Kelly's career change follows a period of turbulence in her relationship with the network:
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"[Kelly's move] comes in the wake of her explosive accusations that former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes had sexually harassed her earlier in her career. And that was on the heels of her colleague Gretchen Carlson alleging the same in a lawsuit. That led to the departure of Ailes and to significant questions about what path Fox News would take forward. Her departure only raise the stakes for Fox."
Kelly's move was first reported by The New York Times. Her contract with Fox News expires this summer, and the Times says rival networks were not prepared to match Fox News' offer, reported to be "more than $20 million a year." The newspaper adds:
"The NBC News chairman, Andrew Lack, wooed Ms. Kelly away from Fox News by offering her a triple role in which she will host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show and take regular part in the network's special political programming and other big-event coverage."
The exact terms of her new contract are not yet known.
Kelly started at Fox News 12 years ago as a legal correspondent and quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the network's biggest stars. Since October 2013, she has hosted her own nightly program called The Kelly File, becoming the second most-watched host on cable news after her Fox News colleague Bill O'Reilly, according to TVNewser, a website that tracks TV ratings.