And, in the case of Fox News, Carlson is out:
Fox News and Tucker Carlson, the right-wing extremist who hosted the network’s highly rated 8pm hour, have severed ties, the network said in a stunning announcement Monday.
The announcement came one week after Fox News settled a monster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over the network’s dissemination of election lies. [CNN/Business]
No comment, as of yet, from Carlson.
But his continued employment over the years is really a stunning indictment of his management, right up to the top where the Murdochs live. I’m sure Fox News will live on, regardless of the status of Carlson and upper management and the ownership, but if Fox News doesn’t experience wholesale change, one of the most monetarily valuable news organizations in Western Civilization may slowly implode into a third-tier, Remember them? places that Chris Wallace and all the other quality, honorable former employees – vs Fox & Friends, Hannity, etc – get together and shake their heads over twenty years from now.
And if Fox News does implode, they’ll be an object lesson for not understanding that they were primarily a free press organization, a sector for which the best measurement isn’t money, but something along the lines of Pulitzers. (See Sectors of Society for a rambling meditation on this subject.)
Keep an eye on Hannity, and upper management. The rot clearly is widespread.
