Amna: Welcome to "The newshour."
Three high-profile departures in
less than 24 hours marked a
shift in the U.S. Media
landscape.
Geoff: Fox News abruptly
announced primetime host tucker
Carlson is leaving the network
effective immediately.
That is just days after the fox
corporation settled a legal
battle over accusations that fox
hosts, including Carlson,
careful selection claims.
CNN host don leman tweeted he
had been fired after 17 years at
the network, adding "It is clear
there are some larger issues at
play."
He had been criticized for
controversial comments he made
about women and aging on air.
And NBC universal CEO shall was
let go Sunday after admitting to
an inappropriate relationship
with a woman at the company.
We start with a closer look at
what is behind fox's decision to
let its highest rated primetime
host go so suddenly.
>> Good evening.
Geoff: For more than six years,
tucker Carlson has been a force
in the primetime cable news
landscape.
A champion for the trump-era
GOP, a bullhorn for conspiracy
theories, and Fox News's most
popular personality.
>> This is the boldest election
interference ever attempted in
this country's history.
Geoff: But in an unexpected
announcement today, fox abruptly
severed ties with Carlson.
The network saying in a
statement only that they agreed
to part ways.
Adding, we thank him for his
service to the network.
>> Lies have consequences.
Geoff: The announcement comes
less than a week after fox
settled an historic defamation
lawsuit.
Agreeing to pay more than $787
million to dominion voting
systems for the network's role
promoting lies about election
fraud in 2020.
>> You've heard a lot over the
past few days about the security
of our electronic voting
machines.
And this is a real and serious
issue.
Geoff: Carlson was a key figure
in that case, pushing those
false claims and conspiracy
theories on fox's airwaves.
Despite admitting in private
that he didn't believe what
trump and his team alleged.
Carlson even calling Mr trump a
demonic force in a text late on
January 6, 2021, according to a
court filing.
Still, the staunchly defended
-- he staunchly defended the
former president and his
supporters, after the January 6
attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Carlson has repeatedly and
falsely argued that the
insurrection was actually a
false flag plot and that the
defendants charged for breaching
the capitol are, in fact,
victims.
>> The doj has been allowed to
prosecute and jail hundreds of
nonviolent political protesters
whose crime was having the wrong
opinions.
Geoff: Earlier this year with
help from house speaker Kevin
Mccarthy, he aired
selectively-edited security
camera footage to promote his
case.
>> They are not destroying the
capitol, they obviously revere
the capitol.
Geoff: Over the years,
Carlsson's --Carlson's
outrage-driven monologues have
drawn scrutiny for amplifying
and promoting anti-semitic,
racist, homophobic and
xenophobic narratives.
In 2018, losing advertisers
after this anti-immigrant
tirade.
>> We have got a moral
obligation to admit the worlda™™s
-- world's poor, they tell us,
even if it makes our own country
poorer, dirtier and more
divided.
Geoff: Carlson has also promoted
the so-called great replacement
theory, a racist conspiracy
theory about a covert effort to
replace white populations in
majority white countries.
>> They say it constantly.
The great replacement.
Yeah.
It's not a conspiracy theory.
It's their electoral strategy
and we know that because they
see it all the time.
Geoff: Today, his unexpected
departure drew celebration from
the left as the news broke
during the daytime talk show,
"The view."
>> They thank him for his
service to the network as a host
and contributor.
Wave!
Geoff: Fox says it will rely on
a rotation of interim hosts
until it names a permanent
replacement.
Carlson's departure from fox
News raises many questions about
the right wing network's future.
We are joined now by Brian
Stelter, a special correspondent
for vanity fair and the author
of " hoax: Donald Trump, fox
News, and the dangerous
distortion of truth."
He is writing a new book about
fox set to be released later
this year.
Tucker Carlson, as you know, he
gave no indication at the end of
his show that he would be
leaving.
The network was running promos
for his show today.
Have you come in through your
reporting, been able to
determine the exact cause of
this departure?
Brian: He had no idea this was
coming.
He thought he would be back at
work today.
So did his top producer.
His top producer was terminated
today.
My since it is related to the
dominion lawsuit in the
following way.
For all of the messages that
were emerging publicly like
tucker Carlson calling trump a
demonic force, there is so much
more dominion and fox was able
to read from Carlsson's phone
privately that was never seen in
public.
There are hundreds and hundreds
of pages of redaction's that is
part of the public record.
Whatever Carlson was saying
privately, whatever he was
texting that has been rejected
by fox, that is probably what
led to his ouster.
There is a pending lawsuit from
a former producer who has
accused tucker Carlson of having
a misogynistic, sexist
workplace.
Put that together, and there was
reason to remove him from his
show.
Geoff: The former producer, we
have a statement from her
attorney.
It reads part of the like this,
the departure from Fox News is
in part in an admission of the
systemic lying, bullying, and
conspiracy mongering claimed by
our client.
Tell us more about the suit.
It is in its early stages and
she alleges that the harassment
when she worked for that show
was so bad, she contemplated
suicide.
Brian: That's right.
She has signaled she is ready to
fight this in court for a long
time.
She has filed a discrimination
lawsuit and this could take
months or years.
I think maybe we should be what
is happening the following way.
Fox was willing to settle the
lawsuit.
They maybe want to clean up the
other litigation that is
pending.
They have this mark Maddock
lawsuit coming.
All of this that maybe they just
want to try to unburden
themselves from, and they are
willing to let their biggest
star ago.
It has been a believe inside fox
that the network is the star,
not any single host.
This is the biggest test of that
ever, bigger than Bill O'Reilly.
Until today, tucker Carlson was
basically controlling the
Republican party.
Whatever he wanted, he got.
Kevin Mccarthy gave him
surveillance tapes from January
6.
When he would survey the 2024
nominees, all of the perspective
nominees, they worst -- they
responded to his survey, but not
anymore.
He has disappeared.
Geoff: After Carlsen has evolved
over his two decades in
television.
He was a symbol of the most
inflammatory, right wing
rhetoric.
He did not start that way.
He started as sort of a William
F Buckley junior conservative.
Tract's transition for us and
what that suggests about the
transformation of the Republican
party.
Brian: I interviewed him almost
20 years ago.
He was on MSNBC as a host.
It was impossible -- it is
impossible to imagine today, and
that is because of the
radicalization of the Republican
party.
Carlson has been part of that,
by promoting conspiracy
theories, where there is always
an evil doer and enemy around
the -- around the corner.
That is the story he was telling
every night, and millions of
people seemed to believe in,
because they came back for more.
He was unlike everything else,
even fox.
He was kind of of an island.
May be Rupert Murdoch is trying
to clean up his house today, or
trying to get lawsuits to go
away.
Geoff: What happens to the
Republican party in this
election year with tucker
Carlson abandoning the networks?
You could argue, the Republican
party's biggest microphone right
now.
Brian: This is a supply and
demand story.
One of the biggest supplies has
been cut off today.
Tucker Carlson is gone, fox will
figure out how to replace him,
maybe they will choose a less
paranoid host.
But the show will go on.
Fox has an addicted audience,
that frankly many media
companies would love to have.
But they do that through
hyper-partisan programming that
misleads and distorts the
public's perception.
Most people don't want it.
Most people see through it.
Folks like Donald fall for it,
and that is what we saw in the
lawsuit.
I think what we see is this
fraction in the Republican
party.
What direction will it had in?
Fox has an influence over that.
I'm curious about is what is
Rupert market -- Rupert Murdoch
going to do?
Do they want to bring fox back
to a more reality-based,
news-based perspective?
Maybe they can take -- take
tucker Carlson's huge salary and
higher 100 journalists.
Geoff: Will see.
Brian Stelter, thank you for
sharing your insights and
reporting with us.
Brian: Thanks.
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