By Lukas I. Alpert 

21st Century Fox is looking to revamp Fox News's digital news operation, and part of the solution could come from sister company News Corp.

Discussions are under way for Noah Kotch, the editor of News Corp's right-leaning news site Heat Street, to take the reins of FoxNews.com, people familiar with the matter say.

The interest in Mr. Kotch comes after months of stop-and-go talks in which Fox explored acquiring Heat Street, the people say. Such a deal now appears unlikely.

Heat Street went live in April 2016, with the aim of being "politically incorrect" to draw in younger libertarian and center-right readers. It has focused heavily on stories critical of social justice and freedom of speech issues on U.S. college campuses and beyond.

It was led by Louise Mensch, a former Conservative Party MP in the U.K, and Mr. Kotch, a former "Today Show" producer on NBC who helped launch the site Vocativ, a site built around the premise of using data-mining technology to generate story ideas. Ms. Mensch departed earlier this year.

At the time of its launch, Ms. Mensch tweeted that the site will be a place where "disagreement is encouraged," and used the word "libertarian" while discussing Heat Street.

When launched, Heat Street was placed under the umbrella of News Corp's then-newly created Dow Jones Media Group, which oversees startup digital media ventures as well as existing brands like the magazine Barron's and the websites MarketWatch and Mansion Global.

Rupert Murdoch split his media empire in 2013, with the entertainment properties going to 21st Century Fox while the publishing assets, including The Wall Street Journal, went to News Corp.

FoxNews.com is one of the largest news sites by traffic, with 86.8 million unique U.S. visitors in April, according to comScore Inc. Heat Street is small by comparison, but has seen strong, steady audience growth since its launch, drawing the attention of some top 21st Century Fox executives, people familiar with its performance say. Heat Street has audience overlap with Fox News and its stories have appeared on FoxNews.com.

The Fox News site has been viewed internally as a property in need of a revamp, in part because former Fox News chairman and chief executive Roger Ailes largely viewed it as an afterthought, the people familiar with the matter say.

Mr. Ailes exited last year after facing accusations that he sexually harassed multiple women, which he denied. Since then, the company has paid a number of settlements totaling tens of millions of dollars. (Mr. Ailes died May 18.)

After Mr. Ailes's departure, Mr. Murdoch took over as chief executive of Fox News, and his sons, James and Lachlan, pledged their commitment "to maintaining a work environment based on trust and respect."

Fox News has parted ways with top on-air personality Bill O'Reilly, in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations, accusations which he has denied, and with network co-president and long-time executive Bill Shine.

Last week, FoxNews.com retracted a controversial story about the murder last summer of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. The story posited, based on unnamed sources, that his death was orchestrated in retaliation for leaking damaging DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

The story was seized upon in the conservative media world -- most notably by Fox News host Sean Hannity -- as evidence countering the narrative of Russian political interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Hannity didn't retract his statements, but has said he won't discuss the matter further out of respect for Mr. Rich's family.

Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 30, 2017 20:25 ET (00:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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