Tucker Carlson Out at Fox News

Facts

• Fox News said Monday that talk show host Tucker Carlson and the network have "agreed to part ways," adding that last Friday was the last showing of Carlson's show and thanked "him for his service to the network."¹
• Carlson, who worked for the network for over 10 years, signed off his show on Friday stating he would return Monday. Fox's statement said that Carlson would not return on Monday, meaning he was unable to bid his viewers farewell.²
• The host's departure was announced just days after the network settled its defamation case with Dominion Voting Systems' for $787.5M. Fox News has not commented on whether the departure and settlement are linked.³
• The lawsuit named 20 broadcasts that participated in the alleged defamation. Carlson was to be one of the first witnesses after they secured his private text messages with colleagues Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, which spoke to Carlson's dislike of former Pres. Trump and critique of election conspiracies that were touted on the network.⁴
• In place of Carlson's prime-time show, which airs on Monday at 8 pm, the network will now air a new program titled "Fox News Tonight" that will be hosted by a rotating cast until a permanent host is named.⁵
• This comes as CNN also announced the departure of longtime host Don Lemon from its network on Monday — a move that "came without explanation and astonished the media industry" according to CNN itself.⁶

Sources: ¹ABC News, ²Axios, ³CNBC, ⁴CNN (a), ⁵The Hill, and ⁶CNN (b).

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by MSNBC. It's about time that Fox News took accountability for and applied some consequences to Tucker Carlson's toxic and blatant spread of lies and defamation that did nothing short of undermining American democracy. Carlson's removal is a step towards restoring democracy and the civility of the American people.
• Right narrative, as provided by Breitbart. The lengths to which Democrats and the "woke" crowd will celebrate Carlson's departure show that they believed he was a threat to the establishment's agenda. His departure also demonstrates that while Fox News claims to expose Democrats and the government, it has defected and declared war on Trump and his supporters.
• Narrative C, as provided by Politico. The simultaneous departures of Carlson from Fox and Lemon CNN mark a seismic shift in the media landscape. Ironically, this upheaval comes just days before the 2023 White House Correspondents Dinner. It's clear that the cable news industry is in the midst of a broadcast bloodbath and the fall-out will shed light on how the cable news market is rapidly evolving.