The disintegration of Fox News
At some point in its history, perhaps Fox News cared about being a real news outlet, but today, all the network cares about is sensationalism. They continue to involuntarily purge themselves of real journalists because they support conspiracy theorists like Tucker Carlson. As a result, real conservative news people and commentators can no longer stomach being a part of Fox. Back in 2019, Shep Smith had enough of Fox’s nonsense and abruptly left the station despite his contract with the station. CNN reported that he has been joined by Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, who are over Fox.
Both Goldberg and Hayes had been relegated to abject silence because of their refusal to support and perpetuate the big lie. They remained until the latest episode of Tucker Carlson’s “Patriot Purge.” At that point, both became fed up and publicly stated that while reasonable voices and responsible reporting remained at Fox, they “are being drowned out by the irresponsible,” referring to Tucker Carlson. Well, duh. Carlson has been irresponsible since joining the network, but he brings in ratings, so the network allows him to continue his ridiculous ways. The problem is that people believe the garbage that hosts like Carlson spew. Carlson’s show has been described as “disturbing evidence of right-wing radicalization,” which is unfortunately true. Carlson denies that January 6 was an attack on democracy and on the very underpinnings upon which this country was built. Instead, he uses this nonsense to wage war against legitimate conservative voices that strive to tell the truth to other conservatives. Goldberg and Hayes, resigning their positions from Fox, wrote: “If a person with such a platform shares such misinformation loud enough and long enough, there are Americans who will believe—and act upon—it.” That is exactly what happened on January 6.
Carlson is, of course, delighted that Goldberg and Hayes resigned. When contacted by Ben Smith of New York Times, Carlson responded: “our viewers will be grateful.” No doubt, his viewers will be grateful, not that they listened to these two anyway. They would much rather hear the nonsense Carlson emits because it fits the state of the nation as created inside their own messed up heads. The problem is that this type of behavior accomplishes nothing other than to keep these people in turmoil, making it hard for the rest of us to coexist with them. None of what they or Carlson see is real.
No wonder Goldberg and Hayes could no longer be a part of this network. They responded to the NYT that they had hoped that after Trump lost the election, “the network would try to recover some of its independence and right the ship.” That is obviously not happening, and they felt they had no choice. Who can blame them? No one wants to be associated with fantasy, especially fantasy that continues to destroy this country. Even Mike Pence’s former aid Olivia Troye agreed: “Thank you Jonah Goldberg & Stephen Hayes for taking a stand for the truth against an ongoing dangerous enterprise.” Dangerous is right.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years