“Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly had a deal with 21st Century Fox Inc. that he couldn’t be fired over unproven harassment allegations, a fresh revelation that casts doubt over corporate governance standards at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire,” Bloomberg reports.

“Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News anchor, has been negotiating for a position with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest television-station owner,” NBC News reports.

“Sinclair, known for its conservative commentary, is continuing with the talks despite the sexual harassment cases that cost O’Reilly his job at Fox earlier this year… Sinclair currently owns or operates 173 U.S. television stations.”

Vanity Fair: “The move to dethrone O’Reilly, once unimaginable, crystallized over the past week, as advertisers continued to flee his show, more women came forward, and, perhaps most important, Fox News management came to realize that there was no way to stem the possibility that more accusers might surface, anonymously or not, and that O’Reilly would be a liability for the company as long as he stayed on at the network.”

“The most unsettling feeling among some at Fox News, however, is that Wednesday’s events are only the beginning. ‘There’s more to come,’ one Fox News insider told me, suggesting that there are more women with stories of harassment who have not come forward publicly. This estimation was affirmed by two people who heard such stories directly.”

CNN: What will Bill O’Reilly do now?

Gabriel Sherman: “With only six days remaining in Bill O’Reilly’s vacation, the pressure on the Murdoch family to decide the embattled commentator’s fate is intensifying. Three sources with knowledge of the discussions said that, while no final decision has been made, the Murdochs are leaning toward announcing that O’Reilly will not return to the air. Sons James and Lachlan have been arguing that O’Reilly needs to go, say these sources, though their father, Rupert, has resisted that outcome.”

“The O’Reilly Factor” is facing a growing advertiser revolt, as 21 companies have pulled their commercials from the show after a report about five settlements with women who alleged sexual harassment or verbal abuse by host Bill O’Reilly, CNN reports.

Sara Fischer: Advertisers are the new media watchdog.

“In the weeks after Roger Ailes was ousted as the chairman of Fox News in July, amid a sexual harassment scandal, company executives secretly struck an agreement with a longtime on-air personality who had come forward with similar accusations about the network’s top host, Bill O’Reilly,” the New York Times reports.

“The employee, Juliet Huddy, had said that Mr. O’Reilly pursued a sexual relationship with her in 2011, at a time he exerted significant influence over her career. When she rebuffed his advances, he tried to derail her career.”

Gawker: “Over the past week, Fox News has aggressively rebutted accusations that its star host Bill O’Reilly lied about his whereabouts during the Falklands War in 1982. But after a new report challenged O’Reilly’s recent claim that he was present at the violent suicide of a Lee Harvey Oswald acquaintance in 1977, the network declined to defend him. Is Fox blinking?”