Aficionados of Fox News may not know Kate DePetro as well as they do mainstays like Harris Faulkner, Sean Hannity or Bret Baier. Give them some time.
Fox News Media has hired DePetro, a former production assistant, for a new role that may prove to be extremely important to the cable-news mainstay as it seeks broader audiences beyond its traditional TV connections. DePetro will serve as a sort of in-house creator, developing original content and programming aimed at offering a behind-the-scenes look at the goings-on at Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Nation, and other properties that are part of the Fox Corp. unit. DePetro will appear primarily on Fox News Now, a social-media platform that launched in June to help forge connections between viewers and Fox News shows and figures.
“I’ll have the opportunity to create original content, introduce audiences to familiar faces in a more personal way and share experiences across Fox News Media platforms,” DePetro says in a statement provided via email. “It’s a dream opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”
Like other TV networks, Fox News Channel is paying more attention to the younger viewers who don’t rely on cable subscriptions for news, information and entertainment. Executives at Fox, for example, have noticed that Fox News has proven a popular option on Fox One, the streaming subscription service that was originally intended as a way to get Fox Sports in front of the digital generation. And Fox News has seen its audience on TikTok, which stood at around 25,000 followers in 2024, rise to 12.2 million as of October of this year.
DePetro is “kind of like the ultimate insider,” says David Eccleston, Fox News Media’s senior vice president of brand strategy and consumer experience, during a recent interview. Many of the company’s top personalities have come to interact with her during her five years with the company, he says, and “know who she is and trust what she is about.”
Elevating DePetro, who recently worked as an assistant to Dana Perino, the daytime anchor and panelist on “The Five,” spotlights the growing affinity younger viewers have for so-called “creators” and other figures who find connections on social and digital media platforms. One-fifth of U.S. adults regularly get news on TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey from August, 2026 — a statistic that is the same as in 2025 but up from a mere 3% in 2020. Pew also recently found that the share of Americans who say they prefer to get news from television decreased to 28% in 2026 from 34% in 2025, while the share who prefer to get news from social media increased to 19% from 14% in that same time period.
Fox News has been paying more attention to creators, podcasters and digital experts. The company’s alliance with the conservative “Ruthless” podcast, for example, continues to expand. On Election Night, “Ruthless” will host a three-hour livestream from a Washington, D.C. bar, airing between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. eastern on both Fox Nation and Fox News Digital. Brett Cooper, who gained a profile with a YouTube show from The Daily Wire, is now a Fox News contributor who also leads her own digital program via Fox Corp. sibling Red Seat Ventures.
Sports-TV powerhouse ESPN has also tapped young, digital savants in a bid to find younger audiences. The Disney sports-media outlet hired Omar Raja, creator of the popular “House of Highlights” account on Instagram in 2020. Since that time, he has even made appearances on ABC’s pre-Oscars red carpet show. Katie Feeney, who developed her own popular sports-focused social-media accounts while in college, joined ESPN in 2025.
“There is definitely an opportunity to reach a new audience” for Fox News’ properties, says Eccleston. “We know we can do that on digital and social.”
DePetro knows how to get behind the scenes at Fox News because she has worked there. She logged stints as an overnight production assistant for “Fox & Friends,” and later helped supervise the show’s green room, where guests and personalities stay until the time arrives to go on air. As part of her job, she has met athletes, entertainers and world leaders. DePetro met Fox News’ Perino in the green room after reading the anchor’s book, “Everything Will Be Okay.” After a mentoring session, Perino offered her a position as her assistant. Over two years, DePetro helped Perino build a presence on social media.
Perino has “been an incredible mentor, advocate and friend who saw something in me before I saw it in myself,” says DePetro.
DePetro will juggle other tasks as well. She is also working on “The Vow,” a Fox Nation dating series hosted by Chris Harrison, who once led “The Bachelor” on ABC. She is also the co-founder of Pizza to Pews, an initiative that encourages young people across the country to come to church and make friends. Her new role is aimed at helping Fox News create new bonds as well.
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