Galatians 4:16

 

The hot news today is that Tucker Carson and FOX News have parted company.  The #1 most popular cable news host has, if we can believe what we're hearing, been fired.  Who does that?  Alienating their most prolific revenue producer?

People, my spouse among them, love to accuse Tucker of lying, but I have thus far seen no evidence of that.  I believe the more likely explanation is Galatians 4:16 :

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

If someone posits that Carlson orchestrated this parting, I would be hard-pressed to dispute that.  He is not 'one of', but usually the only FOX commentator covering certain stories.  It's because of him that the difference between 'conspiracy theory' and 'breaking news' is down to about three weeks.  In fact, that may be why he's the #1 most popular cable news host... in history.

For the longest time, I believed Carlson was not an actual FOX employee, and instead produced his own content and then sold that content to FOX.  Anecdotal evidence now suggests that impression was wrong.  According to Buck Sexton, Carlson wanted tonight's program focused on a defense of his part in the recently-concluded Dominion Voting Systems suit against FOX.  When FOX executives forbade Carlson doing that, Sexton said, "he quit".

That sounds more plausible than "he was fired", but it makes little difference.  Whether the rock hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the rock, it's bad news for the pitcher.

The 'pitcher' in this case is FOX News.  They're about to find out how many eyeballs watch Hannity simply because they were already tuned to that channel.  If Hannity's Nielsen ratings take a serious hit, it means that FOX didn't simply lose Carlson's audience, but also Hannity's, and perhaps Laura Ingraham's and Gutfeld's as well.  Time will tell.

Dave Rubin recounted the time Tucker visited him and saw Rubin's garage-studio.  "You're livin' the dream!" Tucker exclaimed.  Tucker has been broadcasting from his Maine home for several years now, and I have no doubt his garage currently looks a lot like Rubin's.  If he's not already an independent content producer, what's to stop him now?

As for FOX, I think they're about to find out what happens when you kill a golden goose.

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Update 2023-05-30:  We can now opine with high confidence regarding the amount of traffic Carlson was providing to Hannity and Laura Ingraham.  It was substantial in the true meaning of the word.  FOX's 8pm primetime slot is now losing to both MSNBC and CNN, and the 9pm and 10pm slots are not faring any better.  FOX News has bitten down — hard — on a cyanide pill.

Liz Wheeler, several weeks ago, hypothesized that the FOX-Carlson break spells 'the end of cable news'.  It's looking now like she was ahead of the curve.