« Tucker Carlson's 'Wannabe Dictator' satire master class the left desperately had to ignore | The Army’s top sergeant is all in on defending ‘Pride’ »
June 20, 2023

Tucker Carlson reportedly hiring 9 staffers leaving Fox News

By Thomas Lifson

If these reports from someone close to Tucker Carlson are true — and I bet they are — some very talented people seem to regard Fox News as a sinking ship and are hopping off.

Chadwick Moore, a frequent guest on Tucker Carlson's former Fox News show and the author of a forthcoming biography of Tucker, revealed Saturday that 9 former staffers of his show have left the network to work for their old boss as he rolls out his new program on Twitter...and quite possibly a slate of other offerings there as his organization builds.

Responding to a tweet, he indicated that the now-famous "chyron guy" is among those staffers.

In subsequent tweets, he delved into aspects of apparent turmoil at Fox News, including the reported refusal of some guests to appear on the network anymore.

It's no secret that ratings for Fox News have drastically fallen, to the point where MSNBC just took the title of most-watched cable news channel.

MSNBC ended Fox News Channel's 120-week streak of first-place prime-time finishes among cable news networks, averaging 1.489 million, and finished first among all cable networks in the latest weekly ratings, largely in response to former President Trump's indictment in connection with his handling of classified records.

That's got to really sting.  I wonder what board members like Paul Ryan think of the decision to take Carlson off the air and to further antagonize his viewers by attempting to silence his Twitter show.  And what about the Murdoch clan, whose fortune is heavily weighted with Fox Corporation stock, slimmed down after selling off the movie studio and other properties and now heavily dependent on FNC for its earnings?  

I don't know Carlson or any of his staff, but it was obvious to me as a viewer that he had assembled an effective group of producers, writers, bookers, and researchers, so I always expected that he would seek to employ them as he developed his new platform.  After all, this split with Fox was forced upon him, so there likely was no strategic vision in place for his own platform.  While he is reportedly wealthy from his $20-million Fox salary and family money, he may be raising larger amounts of capital for a broader and deeper challenge to Fox, capitalizing on the loyalty his fans are expressing.

Given the amount of material Carlson produced for the Fox Nation streaming channel, it's a good bet that Carlson will be doing more documentaries, perhaps as a streaming channel charging a monthly fee, as Fox Corporation did.  Or maybe he and Elon Musk have developed a strategy for monetizing a Twitter-based platform for such work.  Given Musk's eagerness to find new revenue sources for Twitter, serving as an alternative platform to cable/satellite and streaming services might be quite a strategic investment for the world's richest man.

Tucker made clear on his FNC show which of the on-air talent at Fox he most highly regarded, starting with Trace Gallagher, whom he called "the best in the business."  Could Carlson go so far as developing an alternative cable news feed to compete with FNC 24/7?  I have no idea.  That would require a huge investment and a lot of time.  But with Fox News's self-inflicted wounds apparently suppurating, it can't be ruled out.

Anheuser-Busch and Target are not the only big corporations that have made extremely foolish decisions in order to placate the woke.  They will be dealing with their crises for quite some time, as will Fox.  A major segment of the public is angry at woke bullying and is determined to fight back, however long it takes.

Hat tip: Daily Wire.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com