Washington/New York Tucker Carlson felt like he was always on the air: if not live on television, then in countless clips distributed on the Internet. The moderator is known for spreading conspiracy theories and false reports in the United States.
This made him extremely popular: Up to now, Carlson was the figurehead of the US channel Fox News, and an average of 3.7 million people watched him during prime time in the evening, including many in the coveted younger target group.
But in the future, the largest cable broadcaster in the USA and Carlson will go their separate ways. Carlson’s last broadcast was on Friday, Fox News announced on Monday and thanked the 53-year-old for his work. Fox News did not give any reasons for the split.
How much influence Carlson has on Fox News is shown by the reaction on the stock exchanges: Just seconds after the decision became known, shares in the parent company Fox fell by four percent. According to the Bloomberg portal, Fox lost 507 million US dollars in market value. Fox Corporation owns interests in other entertainment and sports channels in addition to Fox News.
Collapse of a business model?
The separation is particularly explosive given the fact that the media group Fox has just reached an out-of-court settlement in the course of a lawsuit filed by the voting machine manufacturer Dominion for millions of euros in damages. Because Carlson was also in focus around the defamation lawsuit.
Dominion had sued because Fox News had spread reports of alleged tampering with voting computers in the 2020 presidential election. Actually, a process should have started last week, in which more details from the inner workings of the media group would have come to light. But then both parties agreed on a payment of 787.5 million US dollars (around 714 million euros) from the Fox group to Dominion.
Carlson and his top-rated daily evening show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, also took center stage in connection with the lawsuit. The talk show host appeared on his show as a supporter of former US President Donald Trump, who continues to spread the lie about election fraud to this day and does not admit defeat.
“I hate Trump passionately”
In the past few months, text messages from the moderator have finally become public. Carlson reportedly wrote to a staffer two months after the 2020 presidential election: “We’re very, very close to ignoring Trump most nights. I really can’t wait. I hate him passionately.”
The revelations further cast doubt on the credibility of presenter Carlson, who himself fueled the conspiracy theory of voter fraud on his show. Carlson is said to have repeatedly criticized the management of the station in the text messages.
Recently, there was also outrage that Carlson showed some selected images of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in his program and, in line with Trump, claimed that only peaceful demonstrators were out and about at the time.
The Republican chairman of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, had exclusively made thousands of hours of surveillance material available to the talk show host. Carlson then claimed on his show without any evidence that federal agents incited the violence.
In Carlson’s weekday evening show, he spread conspiracy theories and false reports, made racist statements, made sexist and transphobic comments and was celebrated for this by his fans.
Job offer from Russia
Although Carlson joined Fox News in 2009, it wasn’t until his evening show, which began running in 2017, that he became a star. It was primarily Carlson’s comments about Fox management that played a role in his departure from Fox, the Washington Post reported, citing an unnamed source.
It remained unclear how Carlson would continue after the separation. In his last broadcast on Friday, he did not announce his departure and did not say goodbye to the audience.
The right-wing broadcaster Newsmax reacted to the decision of its rival broadcaster and advertised for new audiences. “Fox News has been on its journey to becoming a mainstream medium for some time, and Tucker Carlson’s departure is a major milestone in that quest,” the broadcaster, founded in 2014, said Monday. Millions of viewers who liked the old Fox News have already switched to Newsmax. Carlson’s departure will reinforce this trend.
The Carlson case also caused a stir in Moscow. Pro-Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov even offered Carlson a job on Russian state television. “You are always welcome in Russia and Moscow,” said a letter that Solovyov published on Telegram on Monday evening. “We are happy to offer you a job if you want to continue as a moderator or host,” said the team of the 59-year-old Russian, who is known, among other things, for his hate speech against Ukrainians and the West.
Carlson is unlikely to retire. Many shareholders are apparently speculating that the moderator will soon find a new home. After Fox News’ decision, the shares of Rumble, a right-wing conservative US video network that is supported by German-born investor Peter Thiel, among others, rose.
With agency material
More: Fox News pays $787.5 million to voting machine maker