By News Room
The situations with Carlson and Lemon are as similar as they are different. In both cases, the dismissal promises to be brutal. Both have sometimes allowed statements that have created problems for their television channels. Although to varying degrees, but due to their status, the two were once considered virtually untouchable. And in both cases, we can speak of a conflict of personal opinions and editorial policy.
Carlson is the biggest superstar on the American political airwaves. In the liberal camp, his dismissal caused clear jubilation – the worst and most dangerous enemy, who deftly ridiculed Joe Biden and his fellow party members, has been defeated. In the conservative camp, they are angry with the management of the channel, believing they shot themselves in the foot by firing the man for whom many watched Fox News.
But Carlson’s dismissal, so unexpected at this time, makes so much sense from above. It may take a long time to figure out the specific reasons, but Carlson’s growing authority and popularity made his clash with management inevitable. If you google what Fox News headquarters looks like, you can see photos of the channel’s stars on the building’s facade. Carlson’s face is in the center, but this is just a series of equally sized photographs of colleagues. A growing problem for Fox News and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, was that Carlson was no longer equal, even first among equals.
The presenter, who gained record popularity, was no longer an actor-reporter who brilliantly played editorial facilities. He himself became a conductor.
Carlson created his own brand of conservatism, around which not only Fox News but even the Republican Party were increasingly forced to align themselves. Recently, for example, he sent a questionnaire to Republican candidates for the 2024 elections on their attitude towards the conflict in Ukraine, which sparked a lively discussion. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, responding to questions, called the dispute in Ukraine a “territorial dispute”, for which he has been heavily criticized by Washington.
And Murdoch, apparently, decided to sacrifice the presenter, in the growing addiction he saw as a threat. Of course, it cannot be excluded that Murdoch regrets this decision. But Yaroslavna cries that Carlson’s dismissal has caused Fox Corporation’s stock to plummet and threatens the TV station with an inevitable loss of viewership and viewership looks hysterical.
Fox News isn’t the first time it’s parted ways with A-list stars. In 2017, the network fired its most popular host, Bill O’Reilly, against whom there were allegations of sexual harassment. It was to replace the O’Reilly show that Carlson’s program came to the broadcast network. The same year, the departure of Megan Kelly is considered a big loss for the chain. You can remember other fired superstars. But those Fox News losses have invariably found a replacement. In the Politico analogy, it’s something like the periodic changing of actors in the never-ending James Bond saga. But reporters who left Fox News were far from always able to confirm their superstar status elsewhere. The same Kelly, despite a resounding start in NBC News in the form of an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, only dreams of her former popularity.
And with Lemon, the story, while similar, is different. The showman, like Carlson in some places, did not really believe in the values that his channel put forward. But, lacking the talent of his conservative colleague to form his own holistic brand, he replaced it with excess, because of which he was pierced more than once.
Fatal for him were the words to 51-year-old former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, about which Lemon recklessly blurted that “that woman is already not in the juice itself”. And then he also got into an argument with the co-host, saying the “most juice” in women is 20-40. Lee and the rest of the presenters in what they say. The ratings of the program with his participation fell, the guests refused to come. From Lemon’s impending dismissal, neither the numerous apologies, nor the 17-year work experience at CNN, nor even the dark skin color, saved him.
The result is the same – both TV channels, even despite the days of crisis in the media sphere, have decided to remind that there are no untouchables and irreplaceables in the American media system. Now the most talented upstart and outrageous provocateur must once again prove their right to a place on the airwaves.
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