Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX News Media, participates in a fireside chat with University of South Carolina students

Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX News Media, participated in a fireside chat with University of South Carolina students on Thursday as they discussed media operations and journalism by focusing on culture, collaboration, creativity and change.

Scott was joined by Lawrence Jones, co-host of “FOX & Friends,” who moderated the event, which was part of the Baldwin Lecture series for students in the College of Information and Communications. Students were shown a video detailing the rise of Fox News Channel 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 an opportunity to make an impact.

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FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and “FOX & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones at the University of South Carolina’s Baldwin Business and Financial Journalism Lecture Series. (FOX News Media)

“I started at an entry level as a programming assistant, I had a great boss who was also my mentor at the time, and we were short-staffed, so I kept raising my hand and asking for opportunities to contribute,” Scott said.

“Those five months were a lot of long days, seven days a week, but we built the network and those years launched my career,” she continued. “I am a results-oriented person and that’s why I got a lot of opportunities and promotions.”

Jones then asked Scott to explain the key lessons she’s learned on her journey from entry-level executive to CEO.

“One thing about my style is that I always operate as a startup, I never take my position for granted,” Scott said.

“I embrace change, I strive for excellence every day and treat every topic with the utmost importance, but I always operate in that startup mode. I have four words in my head all the time about how to operate as a CEO, and they all happen to start with a 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 the convergence of culture, collaboration, creativity and change helps FOX News Media thrive as an organization.

“I’ve been on quite a journey, having been here for 30 years, and the most important thing is the culture you create within the organization. Despite everything that is said about Fox News, it is the happiest place to work and we have a great team,” said Scott. “I’m a people-first person, I try to think of our organization as one big family.”

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The CEO of FOX News Media said it is critical to have “the best people in every position” across the company.

“I believe in surrounding yourself with the best people,” Scott said. “We have the best people in the entire company and that is very important.”

Scott said she always enjoyed working with different types and ages of people. One of her favorites was TV pioneer Chet Collier, who died in 2007 after a legendary career in which he helped develop Fox News Channel in 1996.

“He was an old-school TV producer and director. He taught me everything I know about talent and working with talent, producing shows and making shows, and how to get audiences interested and engaged,” Scott told the students.

Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX News Media, addresses students and faculty at the University of South Carolina’s Baldwin Business and Financial Journalism Lecture Series. (FOX News Media)

She explained that she was “really lucky” to work with Collier so early in her career. He brought her to meetings that offered crucial opportunities, despite having decades more experience than Scott at the time.

“I consider the years I worked for him as a masterclass program because it was truly a gift,” Scott said.

“I knew how lucky I was. He passed on all his wisdom to me. And you know, one of the biggest lessons he taught me is a very simple philosophy: ‘people watch people,'” Scott explained.

Collier taught her that people look for people they like and trust, people who don’t talk down to them, and people who know how to connect through the screen.

“One of my talents is spotting people who, in my opinion, have the ability to do that and developing it, and expanding their toolbox so that they become an even greater asset to themselves and to what we do as a company,” Scott said.

Scott said there are high expectations for the Fox News family, with many goals, but she understands that 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 that can impact their work from time to time, but that culture of having each other’s back… the collaboration that we all have, that’s the team mentality. We couldn’t do the work that we do if we didn’t have a strong culture and really work together as a team,” she said.

Scott believes that regularly coming up with new ideas and embracing the changes that come with those new ideas has been critical to Fox News’ success. 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 have to stay ahead of the curve, learn and take that with you to whatever internship or opportunity you get out there,” she said.

Since the early stages of Scott’s career, she has looked for candidates who “love to win and hate to lose,” because it’s important to instill a “competitive spirit” in Fox News.

Scott told the students to always accept potential opportunities to expand their skills. She strongly advised students to embrace artificial intelligence, which she does not see as a job loss, but rather a new opportunity.

“I actually think there’s too much doomism in AI storytelling. I actually think AI tools are growing rapidly and everyone who’s young needs to be educated about different AI tools in different industries and how they’re going to use them,” Scott said.

Scott explained that she has had the opportunity to meet AI heavyweights and was 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 on the subject.

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“Again, the C-word: change. You have to embrace change. Here are tools that will help you do your job more efficiently and strategically,” Scott said.

“As an early adapter, especially as a student, you have a great advantage to bring that experience and knowledge to wherever you work,” she added. “The young generation should really get excited about learning about it, understanding it and being more knowledgeable so that when you go into it, you’re way ahead of your bosses.”

It was easy for Scott to embrace artificial intelligence, who considers himself a “change agent.”

“I’m always thinking about what’s next. That’s kind of my style,” she said, telling a story about when she started using the Blackberry about 20 years ago.

“I was on the train on the way home that night, and I was getting emails and I was able to do my work. This was 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 we were on the cusp of changes in media consumption.”

Twenty years later, people can indeed consume media anytime, anywhere, and Scott said the industry will continue to evolve.

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“The game is changing; there are change agents in the newsroom. And as producers, as cinematographers, the business is changing and growing,” Scott said.

Another example of embracing change is the drone program that Fox News launched 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,” Scott said. “You have to embrace all the different things and new things.”