Why Tucker Carlson's Exit From Fox News Looks Like an Execution

[Nevilledog]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/tucker-carlson-fox-news-execution

The last time Tucker Carlson texted me, it was about a Twitter rumor that new management at CNN might toss me overboard. Carlson clearly wanted an excuse to turn a random tweet into national news for his millions of devotees. “Do you have comment?” he asked. “Thanks.” By that point, in April of 2022, I had sworn off any contact with Carlson. I’d had enough of the swearing and trolling. But Monday presented an astonishing reason to reach back out to Carlson. I texted: “Any comment on your departure from Fox?”

It’s been a few hours, and he has not replied yet. Carlson has chosen silence at one of the most consequential moments in his life: his firing from Fox News. Officially, Carlson and Fox “agreed to part ways.” That’s what the terse press release from Fox said. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

The real “tell” about the terms of Carlson’s departure came in the second and last paragraph, where Fox revealed that “Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st.” Carlson is not signing off. To put it more bluntly: He’s not being given a chance to say goodbye. It is technically possible, I suppose, that Carlson turned down a chance to sign off on his own terms. But my 20 years of experience covering cable news suggests otherwise.

Four months after Carlson texted about the rumor of my departure, CNN CEO Chris Licht told me he was canceling Reliable Sources, the Sunday morning program I had led for nearly nine years. Notice that I didn’t call it “my show”—it’s a crucial distinction. News anchors don’t own their time slots, they rent. Anchors who let their egos delude them into thinking they own their time slots, well, they don’t last very long.

*snip*

[Cha]

1. TY.. File Tucker under

The Bigger they are the Harder they Fall

[Larissa]

5. Howard Stern's Tucker Eulogy

Mediaite.com: Howard Stern: Tucker Carlson forgot he was just a worker bee for Rupert Murdoch
https://www.mediaite.com/radio/howard-stern-tucker-carlson-forgot-he-was-just-a-worker-bee-for-rupert-murdoch/

To quote the late Notorious B.I.G.: "Touch my cheddar, feel my Beretta."
Once Murdoch's capital started getting drained -- and Murdoch has more than he could ever spend in his lifetime -- it was curtains for Tucker.

Warning: Strong Stern language.

[Srkdqltr]

2. Of Course Fox wasn't going to let him have a last word. CNN didn't let Lemon either.

[Raine]

3. Interesting article ... Thanks! nt

[ancianita]

4. As was said tonight, no anchor is bigger than the platform. The FOX platform continues. Whether

Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly or Carlson left, FOX has a FUD formula that works in whatever new variation the eventual anchor provides.

It helps that that slot is right before ESPN goes on nightly, which also says something about the viewing habits of so-called Carlson loyalists.

Whenever this crap happens, I will bet you drinks to dinner that they all turn to MSNBC to get history and perspective, so they can stop their meltdowns.

FOX will grind out its next legal fights, and try to recoup from its owners' stupidity.