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Home » The big news today is about the news: Carlson leaves Fox; Lemon leaves CNN

The big news today is about the news: Carlson leaves Fox; Lemon leaves CNN

The New Neo Posted on by

I never was one to watch much TV news, but in the past year or so I’ve pretty much stopped watching it entirely. And I doubt I’ve ever watched Lemon, just awful clips featuring him. Nevertheless, I’m aware that this news about the news is big news today.

First, Lemon’s departure:

CNN has parted ways with longtime host Don Lemon. The announcement Monday came without explanation and astonished the media industry.

Well, it doesn’t astonish me. Seems to me that CNN has been moving him around for a while, not all that happy with him.

From CNN:

“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” said CNN CEO Chris Licht in a memo to staff. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”

But Lemon doesn’t sound like there’s a whole lot of love lost there:

In a statement of his own, Lemon said his agent told him Monday morning that CNN had terminated him.

“I am stunned,” Lemon said, arguing that management did not have “the decency” to inform him of his firing directly. “At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network,” Lemon added

CNN rebutted Lemon, calling his version of events “inaccurate.”

I think Carlson’s departure from Fox is the bigger news. It’s certainly the bigger news on the right. Carlson has a huge following and as far as I know he continued to be the biggest draw on Fox. He hasn’t issued a statement yet, either, although Fox has issued the usual boilerplate:

FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.

Blahbity blahbity blah.

A lot of the MSM headlines have made references to the settlement of the Dominion lawsuit and assume this shakeup is connected. Perhaps Murdoch is afraid of further lawsuits, and Carlson is the most controversial person left, although Watters and Gutfield somewhat meet that description. The LA Times has published some rumors from the usual sources who are remaining anonymous, so make of this what you will:

People familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Carlson’s exit is related to the discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, the producer fired by the network last month, the people said. Carlson’s senior executive producer Justin Wells has also been terminated, according to people familiar with the matter. A Fox News representative would not comment.

Murdoch is also said to be concerned over Carlson’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in which the host has promoted the conspiracy theory that it was provoked by government agents.

So there’s the Grossman lawsuit, plus the January 6th evidence. Fox appeared to have already demanded earlier that Carlson shut up about that.

Also:

Fox News appears to be cleaning house of some of its most rightward-leaning elements. Last week, the network failed to come to renewal terms with weekend host Dan Bongino, a popular pundit in ultra-conservative circles…

Carlson’s show has also proved problematic for the business side of Fox News Channel. Over the years, many national advertisers have asked that their commercials not be placed in his program, fearful that advocacy organizations would call them out on Twitter for supporting some of Carlson’s stances. More recently, however, Carlson’s program has seen ad dollars return, according to Vivvix, a tracker of ad spending.

I assume that Tucker will go to some other platform or start his own. Will his reach be the same?

As for Fox, I think they’re floundering.

Comments

The big news today is about the news: Carlson leaves Fox; Lemon leaves CNN — 71 Comments

  1. I cancelled my Fox Nation account today. I just got it in December and signed on for a 2 year subscription. I got it to watch some of Tuckers specials, which I have watched. No reason to keep it anymore. I am done with them. Their loss. They are the new Bud lite.

  2. Fox is definitely floundering. It has less and less of a natural base. Anyone mildly left of center utterly detests it (a few might hate watch, but that’s it), while the activist right has long lost any respect for it. Carlson was the primary link between the activist right (all those ‘Ultra Maga’ folks) and Fox News viewership. With him gone, I expect their ratings will plummet.

    And yes, Carlson will almost certainly move on to a new platform; indeed, it’s probably already well into development.

  3. At some point we might want to brush up on how cable networks get money before making predictions about how Carlson’s departure will doom Fox News…

    Because cable TV is bundled, a lot of Fox News revenue is going to come from people who already may not be watching it at all. As long as people keep subscribing to cable for SOMETHING, and as long as Fox News gets bundled with that SOMETHING, then Fox News gets money.

    This kind of system rewards playing nice.

    Do you see why they might not be too worried about Carlson leaving? It’s entirely possible that anything they are losing is being made up to them in another way.

    *Cross-posted in another thread before I saw this one.

  4. ast week, the network failed to come to renewal terms with weekend host Dan Bongino, a popular pundit in ultra-conservative circles…

    I wonder what qualifies a person as “ultra-conservative” in the eye’s of an LA times flack?

    Carlson’s show has also proved problematic for the business side of Fox News Channel. Over the years, many national advertisers have asked that their commercials not be placed in his program, fearful that advocacy organizations would call them out on Twitter for supporting some of Carlson’s stances. More recently, however, Carlson’s program has seen ad dollars return, according to Vivvix, a tracker of ad spending.

    I like how the last sentence essentially negates the rest of the paragraph. Tucker’s show was the highest rated thing on Fox and number one against his competition by a country mile, as they say. Somehow I doubt his show lacked for advertising dollars despite the occasional Twitter induced flare-up briefly causing some virtue signaling among certain advertisers.

  5. well ‘playing nice’ means being accepting rioting, terrorism, gender mutilation, and other whole sales destruction,

  7. Kate’s link to Tucker is worthy of a repost here.

    “Tucker Carlson was on fire at a Heritage Foundation keynote address over the weekend. Six minutes 20 seconds, well worth watching.”

    Tucker all but calls Democrats child sacrificing pagans out to destroy our society. Tough thoughts compellingly conveyed — pol campaign FIGHTING words, which implies “Defeat the Enemy By Any Means” commitment — even though he doesn’t say it.

    Bold and uncompromising words.

    https://twitter.com/colinsmo/status/1649964905758351360?s=20

  9. Frederick on cable bundling business.

    But Ace of Spades points out that Newscorp is currently negotiating reupping their cable contract. Losing your audience leading star cannot be good for FNCs leverage.

    Richard Aubrey asks What’s in it for Murdoch to go leftish, or less-right?”

    The sons are embarrassed by FNC. And these cuckolded boys are eager to dump the right, while control is ceded by the nonagenarian.

    Rupert’s sons want the respect of their classes peers. Like all Leftists do.

  10. Nonapod:

    You ask, “what qualifies a person as ‘ultra-conservative’ in the eye’s of an LA times flack?”

    My answer: anyone to the right of Bill Kristol.

  11. wendybar comments on top…

    So, FNC sans Tucker and Bongino and Maria et al, becomes “FoxLit” without Fox Leading Lights?

    Some variation in this like Foxlite” could become a meme.

  12. On neo’s point to Nonapod, there is no real far right in America. The German Bund League from the 1930s is dead.

    There are more abroad, but where they are numerous? Past Czech President Vaclav Klaus, in an interview on YT only days ago, says Europe eschews anything “nationalist” because of the German past, even today.

  14. On the economic side, the Daily Mail was reporting that Fox Media lost over $930 million since noon in stock price after the Tucker announcement. They are also now reporting that it was a firing directly from Murdoch himself and Tucker was blindsided. Tonight’s show was already in line to dispute the 60 minutes Ray Epps interview but the mucky mucks were going to nix it. Not a good look in either case.

    Yep, FNC now the BudLight of the media as wendybar so aptly describes. I wonder if the conservative backlash will be as intense.

  16. tucker torched so many sacred cows it was like one of those mysterious mass farm burnings in the mid west, with great creativity, Rush was sui generis, but
    he is second in that arc,

  17. Tucker’s crime was, as Steve Sailer likes to say, noticing. And then talking about it. In today’s America both are crimes, figuratively speaking. If you take leftists at their word – and on this you should – their next project is going to be repealing first amendment protections for so-called hate speech, and they are the ones who get to decide what hate speech is.

  18. What;’s the pro cencorship NGO with 6 or 7 former CIA Directors on the board? Anyone have a call log between them and Murdoch? Asking for a friend.

  20. I think the owners intent was to neuter Fox by getting rid of Bongino and Carlson. Murdoch’s sons I believe are lefties.

  23. Interesting turn of events, but notice the difference between the two. Don Lemon was fired for being *un*popular. Tucker Carlson was fired for being *too* popular.

    That in itself shows a bias in the cable news industry.

  25. TJ,

    There are, however, still PLENTY of anti-semites in Europe. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like stamping out nationalism in Europe had any impact on eradicating that sickness.

  26. What happens to the J6 footage? Do the House Republicans take it back from Fox? Does it go with Carlson? He could set up his own show just using that video and I’d pay to watch it.

  28. Interesting that all these people were fired on a Monday, insuring a possible full week of further discussion.

    I thought the preferred style for messy announcements was the Friday afternoon news dump.

  30. I gave up on Carlson some time ago. My wife said I made a mistake. Nothing new.

    I do think that Carlson was correct to air the 1/6 tapes that were kept hidden for so long. There was criticism of his editing. But, predictably that came from the Left. Like so much these days, it is very hard to know who to believe.

    If Fox wants to become more balanced, then I would expect Hannity to be next. He is actually embarrassing–to me–and has been for a long time with his blatant shilling for Trump. He is now unwatchable IMO.

    I think the bottom line is that “Old Rupert’s” sons have gained control; and they are reportedly distinctly to the left of the old man.

    Fox News online is trending toward becoming a tabloid. They seem more interested in celebrity shennanigans than they do in reporting hard news. I don’t know who is driving that.

  32. well its terribly organized in an unappealing manner, maybe thats deliberate,

    tuckers show and ingraham to a lesser extent grappled with ideas,

  33. Let me make sure this timing is correct.

    Carlson has been focused heavily on issues about J6 in particular Ray Epps.

    Ray Epps does an interview on 60 minutes claiming he is not government agent.

    Before he gets to air another episode Tucker Carlson is quickly fired from his top rated show.

    I for one am shocked by this sudden and unforeseen turn of events

  36. The hard left has been trying to get rid of Tucker from the get-go. I have been a fan from the first show. He began by bringing lefties on and using the Socratic method to punch holes in their positions. It was wonderful to watch. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before he couldn’t get any lefties to come on his show. Then he began analyzing and exposing the left in all its inept, smug, group think. Excellent stuff but detested by the left.

    I haven’t always agreed with him on all issues. I think he was right to be alarmed by Biden’s incompetency on Ukraine, but I disagreed with his position that we should stand back and let Ukraine and Europe shoulder the burden.

    He has done so much to expose the left. It’s why they have been all out in trying to get him fired. Well, now they’ve succeeded. Free speech has lost a battle against the forces of censorship. It’s a truly sad day for free speech. Getting rid of Bongino and Bartiromo are also moves against free speech. It would be one thing if their ratings were bad. Their problem was they spoke too much truth to power.

    If Fox keeps going this way, they will lose a large segment of their audience. Newsmax might increase their ratings by picking up these three professionals.

  37. Since Fox seems to subscribe to the Anheuser-Busch school of marketing I think they should complete the circle and hire Dylan Mulvaney as Carlson’s replacement.

  38. or shep smith, quite nearly the same thing, hes available since cnbc kicked him to the curb,

  39. some lefties like greenwald and wolf had something to say, in the wilderness of mirrors, about censorship and the denial of effective health protocols, a re evaluation of where our domestic and foreign priorities lie,

  40. Trump should choose Tucker to be VP.

    The 60 minutes Epps timing is suspicious, Tucker fired before rebuttal program. Amazing how many coincidences happen…

  41. On the radio today Glenn Beck today was asking people to get a subscription to the Blaze so he would have money to offer to Tucker Carlson. ( My paraphrase). Totally will not be surprised if Beck gets with Tucker Carlson, somehow.

  42. There is still a significant amount of broadcast TV out there. I do not have cable, yet there is significant numbers of channels available, numbers depending on the weather to a certain extent. There is probably room out there for a conservative news channel to set up and do an evening news program on one of the non big three networks.

  43. Larry Elder seems to be associated with NTD News . He has a program on the same channel. This is broadcast news on antenna.

  45. As a Chicago Bears fan I gotta say THE BIG NEWS OF THE DAY is that Aaron Rodgers will no longer be able torment us twice every season.

    The world sure is different when you’re a geezer retiree.

  47. Hi miguel cervantes,

    “well ‘playing nice’ means being accepting rioting, terrorism, gender mutilation, and other whole sales destruction,”

    Yes. “Playing nice” also means hating anyone who is…or having contempt for anyone who:

    is from the GOP, is a white person, is a white man or boy/male, likes America, likes Christians, thinks the US is morally good, likes traditional American +/or Christian values, stands up for family values, likes making money, likes saving money, thinks capitalism is morally good, likes the USA’s allies, likes Israel, is a heterosexual, is conservative, likes fairness,likes freedom of speech, supports freedom of speech -even when it gets taboo…or appears offensive to some people,…

  48. Bill O’Reilly thinks Fox is trying to get ahead of other lawsuits that are coming against Fox News, including Ray Epps.

    Here’s the 60 minutes interview with Epps that was mentioned earlier.

    “Tucker Carlson ruined my life,” according to Epps.

    Ray Epps: The 60 Minutes Interview

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHEEGxQKg20

  50. Robert Barnes on Viva and Barnes:
    The kind of people who think that DeSantis is a better candidate than Trump and that it’s a smart idea for DeSantis to challenge Trump are the same people who think it’s a smart idea for Fox to fire Tucker Carlson.

    In-depth examination of the Carlson firing starts at the 41 minute mark.

  52. After discussing the absurd Dominion settlement in light of Carlson’s firing, Barnes predicts that whether by inside sabotage or outside sabotage, they may in fact neuter Fox. But what they won’t realize is that Fox was actually a key deep state ally to gatekeeping conservative opinion on the right… I think in the end, this is going to be a win-win for populist opinion and lose-lose for the deep state corrupt actors that think they have silenced populist opinion once and for all.

  53. The kind of people who think that DeSantis is a better candidate than Trump and that it’s a smart idea for DeSantis to challenge Trump are the same people who think it’s a smart idea for Fox to fire Tucker Carlson.
    ==
    That’s an absurd assertion.

  54. Art Deco – We have found something to agree on. I think DeSantis is a better candidate than Trump and also believe that it was a most certainly not a smart idea for Fox to fire Tucker Carlson.

    If Carlson were to run in 2024, he would not be my first choice by far, but I would vote for him over Trump. Carlson actually understands what’s going on. Trump is just on an extended ego trip.

  55. The text messages which allegedly led to Carlson’s firing (in the WSJ article) don’t mention Bret Baier in particular, but the flavor of this sounds to me like the Bret Baier faction vs. the Tucker Carlson faction. Management went with the former group.

    It doesn’t say how long Carlson’s contract runs. $20 million annually is nice for him, especially if there are no strings attached to what he can do.

    The whole problem with the Dominion lawsuit is that news organizations are supposedly free to report what political factions are saying. Apparently they are only free to repeat leftist charges. Fox News has folded and damaged news reporting in general in the process.

  56. you are to speak the lie, and deny the truth, rupert has done a grave thing, to serve his pagan or ai overlords, (i debate which is which)

  57. it should never have been approved as a lawsuit, it was a lawfare exercise, perhaps suggested by the chinese landlords of perkins and coie, the venomous law firm that gave us the danchenko dossier and the crowdstrike fraudm

  58. they stole the election for a reason, and they silence those who point it out, so the damaged cannot be reversed,

  59. Kate – You’re not wrong. This is chilling. Meanwhile our “betters” can peddle misinformation seven days a week and there’s no consequence – even rewards for many. See – Morrell, Blinken, Russia hoax perps, etc.

    For further perspective on why I don’t supoport Trump, I think he’s the perfect (almost certainly unwitting) tool for the blob. He thrills the right. He suffers greivous wrongs, but he’s enough of a fool as to discredit the right and make it impossible for them to win elections. I have little doubt that Trump’s travails this year are part of an information operation against the right – to goad us into nominating him again. Just like Mastriano, just like all of the other Trumpy candidates that Democrats “supported” in the Republican primaries in 2022.

  60. have you learned nothing from this exercise, they punished tucker for speaking the truth, lies are rewarded look at cnn msnbc, any of the old alphabet,

  61. Kate,

    It would be highly unusual for there to be no strings attached, but this is highly unusual.

    Carlson’s contract almost certainly had a clause stating that if FoxNews terminated him before the end and continued to pay him that he would be prohibited from doing similar work somewhere else until the contract end date.

    If they are paying him then they likely did not terminate him “for cause,” in other words, they didn’t make an argument that he violated the terms of the contract. Probably more like, “we’ve decided to go a different direction.” It’s also possible there was a new agreement. They may have even offered him a new agreement with even more pay but more restrictions. His salary and the additional payments are given in installments as long as he doesn’t violate the contract terms; sue them, speak out against them, take another job.

    Hence the term, “golden handcuffs.”

  63. Kate,

    I should have added, if there is a new agreement FoxNews would have had to give Carlson time to digest it and decide if he wanted to sign and agree to it. HR would have advised him to take time and review it with an attorney before signing. So, the details may not even be worked out yet.

    A company in FoxNews’ situation is typically trying to pay the person a princely sum to go quietly and not make waves. Carlson likely has enough money in the bank and is worth a great deal going forward that he would not sign an agreement that hamstrings his ambitions if they don’t align with his goals.

    It’s very possible he is taking a few days to digest, think and ponder his options.

  65. Barnes predicts that whether by inside sabotage or outside sabotage, they may in fact neuter Fox. But what they won’t realize is that Fox was actually a key deep state ally to gatekeeping conservative opinion on the right… I think in the end, this is going to be a win-win for populist opinion and lose-lose for the deep state corrupt actors that think they have silenced populist opinion once and for all.

    Fox got into basic cable packages because of NewsCorp’s power. Other alternative media have had problems breaking in. Of course, cable is in decline itself, but the result may be that nobody will have the clout with conservatives that Fox did. There won’t be a universally accessible meeting or rallying point like Carlson was.

    Tucker was a kind of gatekeeper, asking questions that one isn’t supposed to ask and examining them for a wider audience. The establishment media and the government want to be the gatekeepers themselves and keep those questions unasked and unexamined, so they got rid of him. The problem now, is that there are plenty of voices out there talking about the machinations of government, but nobody to separate out the heated rhetoric from clearheaded examination, so the questioning remains far outside the mainstream and no threat to the Establishment.

  66. Rufus T. Firefly:

    I have read that Tucker is free to talk about the firing and to go wherever he wants for future employment, even though Fox will continue to pay him. Don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I’ve read.

  67. Nice deal for Tucker, if he’s being paid AND free to say and do what he wants.

    The future of news appears to be in digital media and independent reporting. Perfect for Tucker.

  68. On Megyn Kelly’s show yesterday Glenn Beck stated his company is in the process of writing a contract to offer Tucker. It doesn’t sound like Beck had talked with Carlson since his firing, but he intends to make the offer to Tucker. There must be several other companies doing the same; Dailywire? NewsMax? SiruisXM? Rumble?

  69. @Banned Lizard
    You seem to think that Donald Trump has a God given right to the nomination.

  70. BrooklynBoy:
    Although I hadn’t thought of it that way, maybe he should have a divine right. And to much more than the nomination (much, much more).

    Meanwhile, in The American Conservative:
    People are getting very rich from [Ukraine escalation]. People are getting very rich from this. That’s why Washington supports it and very soon, we’re going to give you a case study on who exactly is getting rich from it. So many people who are promoting this war that is killing an endless number of Ukrainians are personally benefiting from it, and you should know that, but the cost to us is profound.
    The Courage of Tucker Carlson

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