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☆ Fox agrees to give more Murdoch docs to Smartmatic in its defamation case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Fox News has agreed to give voting technology company Smartmatic additional documents about Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other senior corporate executives. “We will produce the materials as quickly as we are able to,” Fox lawyer Winn Allen said. These materials will include deposition transcripts and exhibits, apparently from the recently settled defamation case involving Dominion Voting Systems, a Smartmatic lawyer said in court. The monster case pits Smartmatic against Fox News, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, and former host Lou Dobbs, who all promoted the baseless lie that Smartmatic rigged the 2020 election. An appeals court recently dropped Fox Corp. as a defendant, but Smartmatic refiled its lawsuit and is trying to re-add the parent company.

☆ Tucker Carlson breaks his silence but does not address his departure from Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Tucker Carlson broke his silence on Wednesday evening, posting a short video online after his abrupt firing from Fox News earlier in the week, but did not directly address his departure from the network nor his future. “Trust me as someone who has participated.”Carlson concluded the video with an opaque message, “Where can you still find Americans saying true things? Without Carlson, Fox News has seen its ratings dip during the hour. Fox News announced earlier in the week that the network and Carlson had severed ties. The decision to part ways with Carlson was made Friday evening by Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott, a person familiar with the matter said.

☆ CNN's Oliver Darcy says he requested $1,000 on Venmo from Tucker Carlson, who he says made a bet that Darcy would lose his job
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CNN journalist Oliver Darcy tweeted that Carlson had allegedly lost a $1,000 bet between them. Carlson called Darcy to say the CNN reporter would lose his job at the cable network, Darcy said. Oliver Darcy claimed on Tuesday that Tucker Carlson called him last year, betting $1,000 that the CNN reporter would meet a similar fate to the one he had met on Monday. "He vowed to Venmo me $1,000 if I still was employed by CNN a year later. Following over a decade at Fox News, Carlson was let go by the network 10 minutes before it released a statement.

☆ Tucker Carlson enraged Fox News by calling an exec the c-word and feuding with its PR department before his ousting, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tucker Carlson feuded with Fox News executives before he was ousted, the Wall Street Journal reported. This included calling one senior executive the c-word, sources told the Journal. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson infuriated network executives before his ousting on Monday, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, precipitating his exit. Fox News announced on Monday that Carlson had been dropped from the network, where he was its most-watched prime-time host. And he complained to Fox executives about press coverage, according to the Journal.

☆ Former Fox producer who sued Tucker Carlson alleging a 'sexist' work environment just 1 month before he was ousted has 'mixed feelings' about his departure
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former Fox producer suing Tucker Carlson said his Monday ouster left her with "mixed feelings." Abby Grossberg spoke to MSNBC this week about her ongoing lawsuits against Carlson and Fox. A former Fox News producer who is suing Tucker Carlson and other company executives for running a "sexist" work environment said Carlson's shocking ouster on Monday felt like the deliverance of "partial" justice. So, when she learned that Carlson had been ousted on Monday morning, Grossberg said she was left with "mixed emotions." Grossberg has also alleged that Fox News attorneys coerced her into making false statements in a deposition for the since-settled Dominion lawsuit.

☆ Tucker Carlson breaks his silence without addressing why Fox News fired him
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tucker Carlson broke his silence on Wednesday night, two days after his unceremonious exit from Fox News. On Monday, Fox News fired Carlson, noting his last show aired on Friday. "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the company said in a statement Monday. Vulgar private messages about his colleagues pushed Fox leadership toward letting go Carlson, The Wall Street Journal reported. Executives at Fox found out about the messages on the eve of the trial, according to The New York Times.

☆ Opinion | Why Fox News and CNN Don’t Need Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brian Stelter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

That’s why I dismiss predictions — fashionable, even at some of these networks — that cable news is doomed to irrelevancy. Mr. Carlson’s reach made him an unelected leader of the Republican Party, someone the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, had to propitiate. An entire ecosystem of far-right sites and social networks eagerly waited to promote Mr. Carlson’s episodes each night. Bush, has called Mr. Murdoch’s machine the “Fox brainwashing operation” rather than Fox News. Lemon called it the “Fox propaganda network” because he didn’t think it was accurate to call it news anymore.

☆ A former GOP strategist says Tucker Carlson would be a huge threat to Trump if the ex-Fox News host were to run for president in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tucker Carlson would be a real threat to Trump if he were to run in 2024, says ex GOP strategist Rick Wilson. He'd instantly have an online fundraising juggernaut second only to Trump, and perhaps surpassing him," Wilson, who served as a strategist for former President George H.W. Wilson is now a staunch Trump critic and one of the cofounders of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC. Even Trump's GOP would never vote for a former TV host pushing white replacement theory.' Trump and Carlson text each other often and are the closest they've ever been, The New York Times reported this week.

☆ Tucker Carlson's history of alleged workplace sexism stretches back to 2015, long before Abby Grossberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Possible rationales include Murdoch's contempt for Carlson's religiosity and Carlson's insistence on hewing to conspiracy theories about the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Internal correspondence unearthed in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News showed Carlson used sexist expletives to refer to a female Fox executive and a guest. The company last week agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Carlson was one of many Fox News hosts who promoted false election conspiracies, the subject of the defamation suit, on their shows. Fox News is still facing a similar defamation suit from another voting machine manufacturer.

Dropping anchorsFox News’s firing of Tucker Carlson, the most popular prime-time host in cable news, sent shock waves through the media and political spheres yesterday. Few had thought that repercussions from Fox’s $788 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems would reach Mr. Carlson, who commanded a following of millions and has the ear of Donald Trump. But Fox and Rupert Murdoch, who are used to courting controversy and legal settlements as the costs of doing business, may be betting that getting rid of Mr. Carlson is the smarter financial move. Since gaining his prime-time show in 2017, Mr. Carlson became the brightest star in the Fox News orbit, with “Tucker Carlson Tonight” averaging over three million viewers every night. (Shares in Fox Corporation fell 3 percent yesterday — more than they did after the company settled with Dominion last week.)

☆ Rupert Murdoch Made the Decision to Ouster Tucker Carlson: LA Times Report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sources told an LA Times reporter that Rupert Murdoch himself made the decision to fire Tucker Carlson. Meanwhile, other outlets reported that Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott made the call. Murdoch was tired of Tucker Carlson's conspiracy theories about the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol. Fox News has not addressed the specific reasons the network and Carlson parted ways, saying in a Monday morning statement: "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. Editor's note, April 24: This story has been updated to include recent reporting from Axios, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

☆ Lawyers plan to depose Tucker Carlson about 'sexist' workplace later this year amid reports he was ousted from Fox News over misogynistic messages
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Grossberg's lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court against Fox News in March, also names both Carlson and one of his top producers, Justin Wells, as defendants. Their removal from Fox News, however, doesn't mean they can escape scrutiny in the lawsuit, Grossberg's lawyer Tanvir Rahman told Insider. Grossberg's lawsuit was one factor in the decision to fire him, according to the Los Angeles Times. Grossberg's lawsuit alleges she experienced a hostile environment while working as a producer for shows hosted by Carlson and Maria Bartiromo. Fox executives derided Bartiromo with sexist terms, calling her "menopausal," "hysterical," a "diva," and a "crazy bitch," Grossberg's lawsuit claims.

☆ Bill O'Reilly says the GOP is in trouble now that Tucker Carlson is out at Fox — and bringing his far-right viewers with him
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Lauren Steussy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill O'Reilly predicts Tucker Carlson's ouster at Fox News will cause trouble for the GOP. "Because the Republican Party, most of it, paid attention to Tucker Carlson," O'Reilly said. "Because the Republican Party, most of it, paid attention to Tucker Carlson," O'Reilly said on Monday on an episode of his show, "No Spin News." Carlson's fiefdom was focused on the Americans on the "committed right," O'Reilly said. Carlson also faces a lawsuit from his ex-producer, Abby Grossberg, who sued him and other Fox executives in March.

☆ News anchor carnage is a post-Trump reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox (FOXA.O) announced the abrupt departure of star host Tucker Carlson, while Don Lemon, an anchor at rival CNN, said he had been fired. After the easy news cycle served up by former President Donald Trump’s administration, the networks are going through an identity crisis. Network chief Chris Licht is trying to reposition the organization toward straight-down-the-middle journalism, but is struggling to get the lineup to click. Even MSNBC is trying to recapture the magic after leading host Rachel Maddow left her five-day-a-week spot last year. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Fox News’ sudden firing of Tucker Carlson may have come down to one simple calculation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the hours following Carlson’s abrupt dismissal from the right-wing channel, a number of explanations have emerged — all with plausibility. One veteran television news executive told me that they believed the decision came down to a straightforward calculation by the Murdochs: Risk versus reward. It is pretty much enshrined as a law of physics in the universe of right-wing media that whoever the Murdochs put in prime time will rate. All that said, Carlson will test the hypothesis that Fox News as a brand trumps any single personality. Carlson is a force unlike any other in right-wing media and politics.

☆ Tucker Carlson found out Fox News ouster while he and his staff were preparing Monday's show: reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Lauren Steussy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tucker Carlson was abruptly dropped by Fox News on Monday. Carlson's staff was prepping for the day's show, fellow former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said. After a decade-plus career at the network, Tucker Carlson was let go just 10 minutes before Fox News released a statement announcing his departure, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The producers of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" were still planning the evening's broadcast, fellow former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said Monday on his show "No Spin News." "They were in the middle of that," O'Reilly said of the planning, and, "boom: Tucker Carlson is history at the Fox News Channel.

☆ AOC celebrates as Tucker Carlson is ousted from Fox News: 'Couldn't have happened to a better guy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated Tucker Carlson's bombshell ousting at Fox News. "Couldn't have happened to a better guy," Ocasio-Cortez said in a video posted to her Instagram. Still, Ocasio-Cortez said she is wary that Carlson will bounce back. Fox News announced it had parted ways with Carlson, the network's top host, on Monday. Several prominent right-wing personalities, such as Glenn Beck and Matt Walsh, voiced their displeasure and shock about Carlson's firing on Twitter on Monday.

☆ Tucker Carlson Out at Fox News: A Look at His Career
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Todd Olmstead | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fox News on Monday said Tucker Carlson, its highest-rated prime-time host, is leaving the network. His last show was Friday. Last week Fox News parent Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle its legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems just before the start of a trial over defamation allegations. Mr. Carlson had been expected to testify during the trial.

☆ Tucker Carlson and Trump text each other regularly and their relationship is closer than ever, even after the now-ousted host was caught privately bashing the former president: NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson often text each other and are closer than ever, NYT reported. The two patched up after Carlson was revealed to have privately slammed Trump in 2021, per NYT. Trump voiced support for Carlson when the latter left Fox News on Monday in a shock announcement. But as Carlson and Trump grew closer, Trump's aides grew more confident they'd retain the right-wing host's backing, according to the outlet. Representatives for Carlson and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

☆ Fox News hosts avoided saying Tucker Carlson's name after he was fired. 'We're not talking about him,' Sean Hannity said.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tucker Carlson was hardly mentioned by his former fellow Fox News hosts after he was fired Monday. Sean Hannity only mentioned Carlson to say "We're not talking about him" and that he had no details. NEW YORK (AP) — The day he was fired, Tucker Carlson was nearly invisible on the Fox News prime-time lineup that he used to dominate. "We're not talking about Tucker," Hannity said, unprompted. Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham appeared close in November 2020.

☆ Trump expresses shock over Tucker Carlson's ouster: 'Especially over the last year or so, he's been terrific to me'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Especially over the last year or so, he's been terrific to me," Trump said of Carlson. He's a very good person and a very good man," Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Monday. Trump told Kelly he was unsure if Carlson left voluntarily, or if Fox News had fired Carlson. "But I think Tucker's been terrific," Trump said. "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights," Carlson wrote, per Dominion's filing.

☆ Why Fox News brass might be unnerved after seeing the ratings in the aftermath of Tucker Carlson’s firing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

When Carlson hosted on April 17, he averaged 3.2 million total viewers and 445,000 in the key demo. On April 10, Carlson averaged 3.1 million total viewers and 438,000 in the key demo. And on April 3, Carlson averaged 3.2 million total viewers and 435,000 in the key demo. Carlson’s ratings dominance was why he had that 8pm perch. The numbers suggest that some of Carlson’s audience migrated over to Newsmax to sample the competitor’s showing.

☆ Tucker Carlson is gone but Fox News' politics remain the same
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Fox News had plenty of reasons to get rid of Tucker Carlson. CNN’s Allison Morrow notes that Fox will need a Carlson upgrade of some kind because upstart conservative networks want into the same space. ET hour on Fox, and if it is any indication, there won’t be much new in the politics that are pushed on Fox’s viewers. On-screen, the words were “Biden’s Legacy: Crime in the Cities.”Related: Here’s a CNN Fact Check on the crime in Manhattan, which far below record levels. Biden legacy 2After declaring crime to be Biden’s legacy, Kilmeade transitioned.

☆ How Tucker Carlson went from a CIA reject to the most-watched person on cable news — to now out of a job
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tucker Carlson and Fox News parted ways on Monday. Carlson was the network's most popular host, but his time there was marked with controversy. Most recently, the network paid a $787.5 million settlement in a suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Tucker Carlson was the most-watched man on cable — and now he is no more. The suit claims Carlson presided over a culture of misogyny and antisemitism.

☆ Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Taylor Berman | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Fox News' star host Tucker Carlson is gone, the media network announced Monday. Tucker Carlson and Fox News have "agreed to part ways," the cable news giant announced on Monday. Carlson's last episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" was Friday, Fox News said, though he didn't make any reference to his impending exit on the program. "We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network," Faulkner said. Carlson leaves Fox News less than a week after Fox settled a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over the cable company's promotion of lies about the 2020 election.

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