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Fox News drops 'fair and balanced' slogan without announcement

Reuters Roger Ailes with a Fox News signReuters
Roger Ailes, the Fox News founder, died last month but had resigned as chairman after sexual harassment allegations were made against him

The US news network Fox News has dropped its slogan "fair and balanced".

An executive told the BBC the decision had "nothing to do with programming or editorial decisions".

Last August, producers were asked to use the slogan "Most watched, most trusted" instead, but there has been no official announcement of the change.

Gabriel Sherman, the journalist who broke the story, tweeted that the slogan had been an "iconic tagline of the Roger Ailes era".

Mr Ailes, the founder and ex-chairman of Fox News, resigned last year after female employees made sexual harassment allegations against him, and died last month aged 77.

A Fox News spokesperson told the BBC the network had not used "fair and balanced" in external marketing or on-air promotions since August 2016.

The network is arguably the most powerful voice in US conservative media.

President Donald Trump regularly quotes the channel in his frequent Twitter statements.

@MBlackman37 Tweet reads: Fox News is dropping its "Fair & Balanced" slogan after an intern looked up the definitions of fair and balanced.@MBlackman37
On social media, some people joked about the change
@JohnCrenny Tweet reads: Fox News is dropping their motto "Fair and Balanced" I mean, they still are fair and balanced, they just aren't rubbing our noses in it@JohnCrenny
Others broadly supported the broadcaster