Fox News faces a bigger nightmare after firing Tucker, says report.

Is Fox News Losing More Than Just Viewers?

By Mike Landry | May 17, 2023 at 12:57pm

Since the firing of Tucker Carlson last month, Fox News has been losing viewers. But it seems the network might be losing more than just its audience. Rumors are swirling that other Fox News hosts are considering leaving the network to join Carlson in his new venture on Twitter.

According to Variety, Fox News made an unwritten agreement to fire Carlson as part of its $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over claims about the 2020 election. Carlson’s broadcasts about Dominion were not at issue, but forcing his firing as part of the settlement would strike a major blow to the conservative-leaning network and keep Fox News and its controlling Murdoch family out of a risky jury trial.

So Carlson had to go. But think of how that went down with other Fox News hosts. First, they would be working for a network that made its most popular host expendable. They might be thinking, “If a heavyweight like Carlson is vulnerable, where does that put me?”

Second, if the Variety story is accurate, they would continue to be the face of a network that caved on a free-speech-on-campus/” title=”Report: Coronavirus Rules Are Stifling Free Speech On Campus”>free speech issue. Did Dominion suffer damages, or was it interested in crushing conservative media? If I’m an on-air personality at Fox News, do I want to be a part of a news operation that rolled over?

Third, if the viewers are bailing, why shouldn’t Fox commentators? True, they’ve got contracts to honor, and non-compete clauses may keep them off the air for a while, but moves like that are made all the time.

It might be that Carlson’s firing demonstrates the age of cable news has ended. Fox News retained a loyal audience based on the effective marketing concept of differentiation. But without that identity, it’s over.

True, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Greg Gutfeld, and Harris Faulkner will continue to stake out their conservative positions on the network. But their audience is probably smarter than Fox executives give them credit for, and unless a specific personality is a draw to specific audience members, more conservative viewers will be slipping away from the network. And at least some of the hosts will probably go with them.

So far, no names of possible Fox News departures have been made public. Variety reported a “handful” of them or their representatives had contacted Carlson about making a move.

For his part, Carlson has secured the services of Hollywood media lawyer Bryan Freedman to untangle him from Fox News, which continues to pay him $20 million per year with an expectation he stay quiet until January 2025, which happens to be after the 2024 election. Freedman is arguing that by yanking Carlson off the air, Fox is in breach of contract and thus Carlson is free to immediately go back on-air. His new show is expected to appear on Twitter any day now, according to Variety. And who knows who might be joining him before long.

Tags:

• 2020 election
• businesses and companies
• conservatives
• Fox News
• free speech
• Hollywood
• journalism
• lawsuit
• politics
• television
• Tucker Carlson
• Twitter
• US news

Mike Landry, PhD, is a retired business professor. He has been a journalist, broadcaster, and church pastor. He writes from Northwest Arkansas on current events and business history.