Fox News Cuts Ties With Tucker Carlson Producers
Issue #124 — Two Fox News producers with strong ties to Tucker Carlson were let go by the network. Were they already on their way out before the lower third controversy, or was that the direct cause?
Fox News Cuts Ties With Tucker Carlson Producers
Fox News injected itself back into the news cycles last Wednesday, when towards the end of the 8 pm ET hour, as both the current president Joe Biden and the former president Donald Trump were each presenting remarks, they ran a shocking lower third (referred to as a chyron in certain areas) that described the current president as a “Wannabe dictator,” who had “his political rival arrested.”
The shocking lower third was shared widely on social media, with many pointing out that the network seemed not to have learned its lesson after settling with Dominion Voting Systems for a record $787 million and avoiding a defamation trial.
That same Wednesday night, Fox News was the only network out of the big three to carry the former president’s remarks live. This came after Trump’s second indictment, which happened earlier in the day in Miami.
During his speech, Fox News noted, using its lower third, that MSNBC and CNN were not presenting this moment live. For MSNBC, this was the second time it did not air Trump’s remarks after an indictment, saying via Rachel Maddow, We are here to bring you the news. It hurts our ability to do that if we live broadcast what we fully expect in advance to be a litany of lies and false accusations, no matter who says them.”
CNN aired Trump’s remarks live during his first indictment but abstained from showing them opting to monitor and present what they deemed newsworthy. Doing it this way was the network’s first visible move away from the Chris Licht era.
Back to Fox News, a few days later, Tucker Carlson, the fired primetime host, on his Twitter show revealed that the network had dismissed the person responsible for the controversial lower third.
Fox News issued a statement regarding the incident s“The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed.”
The person dismissed was Alexander McCaskill, who had been working with Carlson for a long time as the managing editor and senior producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
McCaskill confirmed that he had been let go, saying, “Today was my last day at FOX. It’s been a wild 10 years, and it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of the great people I met. But the time has come.”
In addition to McCaskill's dismissal, Fox News let go of Thomas Fox, who also worked on Carlson’s show as a senior editorial producer. It was reported that both McCaskill and Fox were on their way out prior to the lower third incident.
These two men were also part of the lawsuit filed by former Fox News Abby Grossberg, who has alleged a hostile working environment while working on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Interestingly, the news of McCaskill was first relayed by Carlson, who was a direct casualty of the Dominion settlement. Carlson and Fox News are headed toward court as his Twitter show violates his contract and the terms of his dismissal.
Where that leads to is still to be determined, but Tucker having insider info regarding what happened in the control room and at Fox News leads to the thinking that maybe his producers were doing his dirty work for him, and they knew the consequences of their actions.
That is still to be determined.
(TVNewser, Los Angeles Times, New York Times)
RECAP
What’s Next for CNN?
Now that Chris Licht is no longer with CNN, a sense of calm, and to some extent, a return to old habits has returned to the network. Four interim executives are running the network, but whoever takes over from them will have a lot on their plate. For starters, the new chief will have to figure out how to position the network as it faces declining viewership, declining pay TV subscribers and a lacking streaming presence. He will also need to boost CNN's finances as the network’s revenue has dipped substantially from a billion dollars to around the $800 million range. The list for Warner Bros. Discovery executives of who could lead CNN ranges from internal candidates such as Amy Entelis to outside candidates such as former ABC News executive James Goldstone and former NBC News executive Jim Bell, or they could save face and return to former beloved CNN executive Jeff Zucker. (Brian Steinberg/Twitter, Wall Street Journal, Variety )
BBC News Is A Trusted News Source
Our fragmented and politicized society has led to a real distrust in the news and news organizations as a whole, but one news organization seems to have the trust of viewers on both sides of the pond. British and American viewers see BBC News as a trusted, neutral news source. In a YouGov poll, 80% of the British public do not believe that the Beeb is left-wing or that it’s systematically biased to the left. Meanwhile, on the left side of the Atlantic Ocean, the BBC News, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, is the most trusted of the news brands, with 50% of Americans saying they trust the news network, whereas 22% say they don’t trust it, and 27% are neutral towards it. (Press Gazette)
Diamond Sports May Let More MLB Teams Go
Diamond Sports Group is currently in the midst of the bankruptcy process, and as a result of that, it used that position to free itself from broadcasting San Diego Padres games. Diamond Sports had a money-losing distribution deal with the Padres, and now it’s seeking to use the same tactic to free itself from other money-losing distribution deals. Diamond Sports was due to pay the Texas Rangers on June 15 and has payments with three other MLB payments due on July 1, and is now looking for a way out of those deals. Diamond is asking the bankruptcy court to clarify what happens to the submitted payments should it decide to walk away from its current contracts. It argues that since payments are for games that are in the future, it does not want to pay for rights that they will not use. (Next TV)
QUICK RECAP
These are how the TV networks are celebrating Juneteenth. (TVNewser)
Fox Sports to hire WFAN's Craig Carton. (New York Post)
Will Ganns has been promoted to multiplatform reporter at ABC News. (TVNewser)
Peter Drury replaces legendary soccer commentator Martin Tyler at Sky Sports. (Sky Sports PL/Twitter, Awful Announcing)
Steven Smith was named the new AccuWeather CEO. (TVNewser)
2024 presidential campaign embeds named by NBC News. (TVNewser)
Disney's chief financial officer Christine McCarthy is stepping down. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Shannon Sharpe tearfully exits from FS1's First Take. (Philip Lewis/Twitter)
Ratings: NHL's Stanley Cup Finals game five final was the least-watched in 29 years. (Sports Media Watch)
Ratings: NBA's NBA Finals game five was the most-watched in four years. (Sports Media Watch)
Profile: NewsNation's Adrienne Bankert and Markie Martin on the expanded Morning in America. (TVNewser)
Profile: MSNBC's Ari Melber on his news and music passions. (Los Angeles Times)
Profile: CNN executive vice president of Integrity and Inclusion Johnita Due on Juneteenth. (TVNewser)
NBC News Catherine Kim receives RTDNA's 2023 Loren Tobia Leadership Award. (TVNewser)
Peacock branding will be seen over the Los Angeles entertainment district. (NewscastStudio)
Fox News to settle claims with former producer Abby Grossberg. (CNN Reliable Sources Newsletter)
ESPN's Scott Van Pelt says he will not be anchoring SportsCenter in three years. (Awful Announcing)
Disney Plus pauses original commissioning in Canada until the end of the year. (Variety)
CNN International programming is the first to be broadcast from the Ted Turner Techwood Campus in midtown Atlanta. (TVNewser)
FIFA announces a deal with European countries to air the 2023 Women’s World Cup. (Awful Announcing)
Fox News lays off 3% of its workforce. (The Daily Beast)
Former ESPNer Ryan Spoon joins Yahoo Sports as president. (Sports Business Journal)
How fans game the system to save their shows on streaming. (Los Angeles Times)
MSNBC ends Fox News 120 week win streak as the No.1 primetime network. (Forbes)
Peacock emerges as the top dominant sports streaming service. (Next Media XYZ/Twitter)
MSNBC and CNN did not carry former President Trump’s post-arraignment speech on Wednesday night. (TVNewser)
Netflix to open a pop-up restaurant. (Eater Los Angeles)
Is the NFL's Ndamukong Suh the next big TV star? (Awful Announcing)
Fox Sports says its 2023 Women’s World Cup ads inventory is 90% sold. (AdAge)
NewsNation is seeing a surge in viewership. (The Daily Beast)
Netflix’s first live-streamed sporting event will be a celebrity golf tournament. (The Wall Street Journal)
Former CNNer Judy Woodruff joins Dana Bash for the launch of her term as anchor of Inside Politics. (CNN PR/Twitter)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #124 - 2023