Writes Erik Wemple in "Chris Wallace bolts Tucker Carlson’s Fox News" (WaPo).
Wemple cites the "traditional" meaning of the Sunday political shows. I'm very interested in what they were traditionally. But what are they now? Is there an important tradition to preserve? I used to watch all of the Sunday shows (and blog about them extensively). They were hugely important to me back when Tim Russert was alive. But I stopped watching years ago. They became unbearable. So it's hard for me to align with Wemple's question of how to preserve the tradition. Step 1: Recover the tradition.
I get it that Wemple is disgusted with Fox News, but he should be disgusted with ALL the television news. Fox News is too politically partisan, but it's politically partisan of Wemple to concern himself only with the partisanship of Fox News. It's all so uselessly partisan. I'm not saying the written news isn't also partisan, but reading news and political opinion is very different from watching it on television. You can go way faster, skip things, and grab text and criticize it much more easily.
I really don't care who replaces Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," and I don't care about Wallace's new project, CNN Plus. I already hate CNN Minus.
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129 comments:
“I already hate CNN Minus.” Ann Althouse.
Expect to hear that line from Greg Gutfeld on Fox.
It cannot be ignored that three of the remaining four Sunday hosts are former Democratic operatives.
Fox is much less partisan than the others
I used to watch all of the Sunday shows (and blog about them extensively). They were hugely important to me back when Tim Russert was alive. But I stopped watching years ago.
As I recall you stuck with the Sunday shows for far too long after their descent into leftie propaganda. Years too long, mocking commenters who recognized your ignorant devotion.
…like they way you stick with reporting what WaPo and NYT have to say, calling bullshit on your commentariat because WaPo or NYT wasn’t reporting on the election fraud, or whatever is the agitprop o’ the day…
It blunts your credibility on social commentary.
“CNN minus”. Boom.
Democracy Dies in Darkness!
I haven't watched any TV News for years either. It is unbearable. I'd rather sit on a bucket. It's also pointless, even counter-productive, if your purpose is to get quality, reliable information and analysis.
I cut the cord. TV is for entertainment. For news, reading is better all around. You can cover more ground, you can get multiple viewpoints, all in less time than it takes to sit through a TV News show and its adverts.
These shows functionally died around the time the Drudge Report usurped old media in 1998 with the Monica Lewinsky story. I stopped watching when George Will used the same goofy analogy every single week: "People double dip chips at parties. It's unsanitary, but not different than XXX in the news."
Every. Single. Week. Every. Single. Week.
Old line establishment media is fighting a defensive war of retrenchment. The best strategy for ending it is to ignore them, not discuss them, cancel your cable service, avoid doing business with their advertisers, and send business to new generation streaming outlets. Let low viewership and the lack of new advertising money bring a rapid end to obsolete careers and networks.
Fox News is too politically partisan
Is it? I regard it as the most politically even-handed of the news networks. Says a lot about the extreme partisanship of the others that this is so. Just as you, when you were still teaching, were regarded as being “conservative” despite being well to the left of center due to the rest f the faculty being even further left, I think the left wing extremism of Madison’s milieu affects your perception of the news networks.
This is battlefield prep for the demonizing to follow.
Lou Dobbs is the obvious choice.
I guess I'm one of the few who can stand the smugness of neither Carlson nor Wallace. One difference is that Carlson is unwilling to acknowledge multiple perspectives, whereas Wallace is incapable of perceiving them.
These journos like Wemple are so accustomed to left-wing bias they at least pretend not to be aware of it, like a fish not knowing it's wet. The last neutral Sunday news host was David Brinkley. Since then we've been stuck with shills for the Democrats like Stephanopoulos and Gregory. I haven't watched them for 10 years.
Sounds like high school: "We are not going to let any of your people into our clique."
Sheryl Atkinson, Greg Gutfeld or Hunter Biden.
I also enjoyed Tim Russert. He helped clarify muddy political waters but he wasn’t extraordinary. More like the one eyed man in the land of the blind, no?
…and full disclosure- in college Russert was a friend of a friend who knows he was a rabid partisan. Had Russert survived I suspect he would have dumped his credibility for the leftie narrative like the rest of em….
I think your comments, Ms. Althouse, are on the money. Wemple has, however, called out CNN for its reporting on certain issues, and he's gone after other news organizations, too. All these things fall along lines of political affiliation. If you're Trumpist, Fox is just fine, if you're progressive, NPR and CNN are good news organizations. I don't like Fox, but the drift of all news reporting to advocacy became so obvious during George W's presidency and has gotten steadily worse. And since news organizations discovered there's money in targeted news, it's not going to change. So, Wemple has a point, and I think he's being less selective than he appears, but he's also not going to change anything. And, boy, are you right about the Sunday shows now. Sensationalized and awful.
To the idiot being quoted, can you say Stephanopoulos?
Fox should put a black person in the slot.
CNN is shit. Ergo, CNN plus…
The whole idea that the media would be reliable if it weren't for Fox is beyond a crazy fantasy. They just don't want to admit that many of the craziest fantasies have been anti-Trump,cooked up and promulgated by the "best" people with the "best" degress.
I too gave up the Sunday shows long ago. I can actually remember David Brinkley and John McLaughlin.
I guess it's the nature of media to go downhill.I remember Chris Wallace (of course Mike Wallace's kid--was the father over-rated?) on one of those evening shows, maybe 20/20. "We have investigated the antique business,and we have found to our satisfaction that many vendors deliberately buy low so they can sell high. In some cases it is clear that claims are made which are outright fraudulent." You have got to be fucking kidding me to think this is news. To make it better, I think they were largely in the NYC area.
There is a comic comparing Tolkien and Lewis. The punchline is a neurotic C.S. Lewis declaring "If even one person reading this does not get that the big lion is Jesus, I will set myself on fire." That is what all television news comes across as. The worst thing that the reporters and anchors can imagine is that the viewer, after watching a segment, won't know what to believe. So they engage in this absurd, histrionic over-emoting, like a condescending grandmother watching a movie with a toddler, trying to teach the toddler the socially appropriate reactions to attacks by flying moneys and wicked witches.
Fox News is too politically partisan, but it's politically partisan of Wemple to concern himself only with the partisanship of Fox News. It's all so uselessly partisan.
The only difference is now the masks are off. News always comes from someone's point of view. Fox is only partisan compared to the rest of the media. They are still not pushing content from the point of view of most Americans.
The working/middle class is completely without representation in the media.
Ann does not understand this because Ann is, or wants to be, one of the beautiful people. In order to be of the beautiful people tribe you must look down with condescension on HVAC technicians, plumbers, and Amazon delivery drivers.
The dumbest people in this country become journalists and public school teachers because you don't have to do anything or have any standards in these professions. But you can be one of the beautiful people and look down with scorn on actually productive people.
The leftist tribe is full of mediocrities like this. It is led by stupid people who haven't done anything.
Just compare the lives and accomplishments of Joe and Jill Biden to Donald and Melania Trump.
Don’t care for Wallace, Fox News Sunday, or any of the other Sunday shows.
Will note that Wemple has never recovered from having his visage - complete with a moronic smile - plastered on the coffee mugs Carlson gave to the winners of the mini-quiz contests he used to feature weekly pre-COVID.
"It’s not a tryout sort of gig. That means the network must attempt to find a heavy hitter who has compiled years of experience in Washington — meaning, someone who’s fully aware of Fox News’s descent into anti-democratic Carlsonian madness.
All they have to do is find someone who hates Washington DC and everyone in it.
You don't have to interview the big names at first. Just interview the disgruntled staffers from each organization. You know... actual reporting.
This would force the big names to come out and defend themselves. Your ratings would be glorious as you punched shitheads like Pelosi and McConell and Schumer and Ryan and McCarthy in the balls over and over and over again.
Start digging into the DOJ, the FBI.
Fox News fellates DC just as hard as the rest of the media.
The author of this opinion piece has an interesting sense of what constitutes gravitas for this role. I used to watch Wallace's show regularly, but I grew tired of his smug self-righteousness over the last few years.
I'm not a gambler, but I'd put my money on John Roberts for the Fox Sunday gig.
The Sunday talk shows are journalists and politicians in New York and DC talking to each other about what journalists and politicians in New York and DC talk to each other about. That's why the shows are important, to journalists and politicians, but unbearable to others.
All the news (sic) outlets are playing political one-upmanship. Every story has to turn into a socio-political argument/hammer.
I cut the TV cord in 1995 for reasons other than partisanship, and it's been like wearing the sunglasses in "They Live" ever since.
I went from a registered Democrat small-L liberal to, well, not a conservative -- since that has no meaning whatsoever -- to a Constitutional patriot who believes in equality before the law. And, yes, I vote Republican, straight ticket.
So when I read the post, I'm reminded of a joke:
Why are small-town church politics so vicious?
Because the stakes are so small.
(Which I see was inspired by a quote about academic politics.)
Except the stakes aren't small here. Somebody has to be in charge of promoting the Narrative. This is why the media doesn't care about the blowback from promoting race hoaxes like Covington and Smollett. They need to provide cover for the real criminals ripping off the country. They need to distract us with nonsense.
So Fox won't be able to get a heavy-hitter D.C. insider to host their Sunday show because they have Tucker Carlson in prime time? Who cares? Isn't it obvious that having someone as successful as Carlson in prime time five nights a week is more valuable than whatever the other networks are doing on their Sunday shows?
Wallace was a political (left) asshole through and through.
Like AA, I don't think I've watched one of those Sunday shows for last 20 years.
"The Sunday political shows are places where the networks have traditionally slotted broadcasters with established credentials."
Like George Steph? Established credentials means reliably Dem.
"anti-democratic Carlsonian madness."
What does that even mean? That he opposes the lefty narrative on "the insurrection"?
"You can go way faster, skip things, and grab text and criticize it much more easily."
True, but leaving the TV off is just as fast.
"I really don't care who replaces Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday,""
Fox viewers care even less about Wallace himself. His problem was not that we was a liberal on the one nonliberal channel. It was that he is a bad-faith a****le.
The last time I watched a Sunday morning talk show the host was Lawrence Spivak.
From Wikipedia:
"All received equal treatment," Arthur Unger of The Christian Science Monitor wrote of the presidents and world leaders who were questioned by the Meet the Press panelist. "They had to face up to Lawrence Spivak of the fierce visage, the challenging questions, the fearless independence, the utter fairness. And beneath it all, the scowling good nature of a man with an unrelenting mission: to evince accurate information from the very mouths of the individuals who make the news."
Do any of the Sunday shows do this now? No. Which is why I don't watch.
If I were running Fox I would give the Sunday morning slot to Maria Bartiromo.
It's singularly disingenuous for Wemple to talk about traditions and institutions (seasoned hosts and the Sunday news shows), since those of his political bent have been discarding traditions and wrecking institutions for decades.
This is nothing more than dancing on what is perceived to be a grave. And maybe some sour grapes, since Fox is still leading in news ratings, although with so few eyeballs paying attention, they're kings of an anthill.
Tell me again. When did Fox News have trouble replacing anyone?
CNN on the other hand ...
It’s not a tryout?
After NBC Meet the Press Tim Russert unexpectedly died, NBC scrambled and put retired Tom Brokaw to temporarily fill in. Then they settled for a former White House correspondent with no experience interviewing anybody- David Gregory. When ratings faltered, they gave the gig to a pollster. Yes. Chuck Todd was a pollster before he got the big Meet The Press chair.
Wapo sucks.
.
Insipid is the word which comes to mind. Like Ann, I bailed on the Sunday shows around the same time. You could see that the guests came with pre-programmed notes and would respond with their talking point no matter if it pertained at all to the question.
And more and more I saw the hosts fail to press their guests in the face of illogical/contradictory statements. Fox was terrible on holding Bush reps accountable on the Iraq disaster. NBC/CBS/ABC never could bring themselves to challenge Obama appointees on their brazen bailout of banks as millions lost their homes.
Finally decided I had better things to do on a Sunday morning
It will be interesting to see if Fox News tries to go in a more diverse/inclusive direction in replacing Chris Wallace. CNN didn't do that in hiring Wallace, he's just another aging white guy from a privileged background. I do wonder about the interview process at CNN these days, if they try to suss out if there are any harassment/bullying allegations likely to bubble up against the candidate. I suppose the same could be said for Fox News as well of course given its history. I wonder if we'll get a movie on the CNN scandals, the way we got "Bombshell" out of the Roger Ailes story at Fox.
Wemple is still pissed about Tucker Carlson printing those Eric Wemple coffee mugs?
While Althouse is indeed better than TV news, nine-year old children, dachshunds, and robots are also better than TV news. It's designed for imbeciles. And people whose news is almost exclusively from NYT/ WaPo have zero right to criticize TV news beyond aesthetics, as it's all identical material. In the case of Jen Rubin, Fareed Zakaria, and many more, it even features most of the same commentators.
"anti-democratic Carlsonian madness"
LOL - You must be Pro-democrat Party hacks to survive! To have gravitas. To count. Only one-party will be promoted! You must promote THE PARTY or you will be labeled anti-"democratic"... by the Smolette-Russia Russia Russia Hoax lair corporate hack press(D)
CNN + Pedophiles
I'm not saying the written news isn't also partisan, but reading news and political opinion is very different from watching it on television. You can go way faster, skip things, and grab text and criticize it much more easily.
That pretty much explains why I never watch TV news shows and no longer watch the Sunday opinion shows.
Fox News carries people who like Trump. people who, like Chris Wallace, are disgusted by Trump, and people who are neutral (like Tucker). What other network can claim that balance?
The lefties weren’t all that interested in touting the journalism credentials of Wallace when he was working at Fox. Or Britt Hume. Or Shepherd Smith. Or even that ‘weather bitch’.
Being nasty little shits, we shouldn’t be surprised when lefties act like nasty little shits.
- Krumhorn
Bob Boyd: I 2nd that emotion!
I disagree that Fox News is partisan. It’s counter. Counter/cultural, counter/progressive- Counter/provoking. It’s true- I might have the wrong meaning of counter. I’m too lazy this morning to look up the definition. I don’t necessarily mean complete opposite, here. Or contrary. I mean counter in terms of music- putting emphasis on the space in between what’s loud and obvious. It allows all voices- melody &harmonies, to be heard.
Otherwise it’s just obnoxious, loud noise.
Which is the cacophony of the mainstream media.
I’d love a woman to take the position. An fairly unknown, unpainted honest person.
Aren’t we all sick of hacks?
I see the writer's point. If there's one thing the "liberal" Hive HATES, it's partisanship on a news show!
In an era of instant reporting news events, Sunday talk shows seem to be a vestige of the past. Especially given how the talking heads have little of interest or value to say. But the elites love the shows which reiterate the narratives that they hold so dear.
Wemple's remarks maintain the divide in American culture. It seems people such as he never reflect on that. If your only take on the divide is how bad the other side is, you're part of the problem.
Time is my reason for not watching network news as well. Although I don't watch Fox, I have been accused of it many times by some relatives who vote Democrat - and who quote CNN and/or MSNC personalities almost exclusively. When I read about it, I can follow links to a variety of sources - including Huffington Post and others considered left leaning - in less time and get more complete information. I am not at the mercy of a narrative from the right or the left.
Fox News is too politically partisan, but it's politically partisan of Wemple to concern himself only with the partisanship of Fox News.
Quite right. It's a shame that a major broadcaster like FOX News is as partisan as it is, but the reality is, it's no more partisan than most major news broadcasters. It's just the one the left gets nutty about.
There used to be a saying about Roger Ailes--while at FOX news, he identified and catered to an underserved market--50% of the American people. The left is fine with their partisan operators, what angers them is that people have a choice--their control is not total.
Never watched Chris. I watch Maria Bartiromo. She asks great questions of every guest, no matter what their ideology.
I already hate CNN Minus
Nice closing zinger.
In NYC they have a "rubber room" where they send all the teachers who can't be fired due to unions and can't be kept in classrooms due to what-you-would-be-sued-for-if-you-said-what-it-was. The rubber room is place with nothing to do where they do nothing till they start bouncing off the walls - why they call it the rubber room. I picture institutional gray, some fling cabinets, maybe a blackboard. Anyhow, a need is developing for an equivalent place for fallen stars of the news/gov nexus of error. Of course, it will have to have a more telegenic name than "rubber room" and I propose The Jussie Smollet Place of Remembering and Forgetting - a somewhere known as the "jussie room." I picture it slathered in neon with some dusty old-time cameras and a funny shaped table, a few chairs, some black string with with shapes covered in tiny mike stickers at one end and clips to attach to one's lapel. Chris and Chris, Shep, Meghan, Brian, Dan can sit around and discuss and make as much sense as ever. Phone calls come in with ratings. Morning show people have to be in at 3am. Come in, go home, nothing real, same as before. The jussie room - its time has come.
What? There is Sunday political talking head shows?
Who would watch that?
I get it that Althouse is disgusted with The New York Times, but she should be disgusted with …
Yes, the non-partisan work of Chuck Todd and Little George is quite, quite impressive.
Eric Wemple, who works at the Washington Post I believe? You know the place that pushed the fake Russia collusion story, the fake Jussie Smollett story, the fake Kyle Rittenhouse story, and the fake Nick Sandman story. He really has quite a lofty soapbox from which to preach and scold.
Chris Wallace's "established credentials" were his daddy's name. After nepotism got him his job, and it did, he did nothing afterwards to merit praise. What has he ever done as a "heavy hitter" other than embarrass himself and journalism as a biased moderator/participant of a 2020 Presidential debate?
I would be curious to know what they mean by "anti-democratic Carlsonian madness." I watch Carlson from time to time, and he seems to me to be a pretty classical liberal with a dash of conservative populism. He seems to value things like freedom of speech, open dialogue, good-faith assessment of facts, rule of law, with a tendency to put the needs of Americans first. His strongest vitriol seems reserved for conservative neocons. I don't agree with him about everything, but he seems like a straight shooter to me. He is pretty much the only Fox News opinion host I will watch, besides Greg Gutfeld.
Tony Snow made Fox News Sunday, and the network has never recovered from his death.
As for this snark: "Fox News payroll is thin on potential successors", from a newspaper that wants to be considered serious. Viewership numbers suggests Fox News has a more interesting line-up than CNN or MSNBC. Tucker Carlson leads that line-up and Greg Gutfield can attract a larger audience than broadcast late night shows. I think Laura Ingraham would be a good successor to the program made famous by Tony Snow. WaPo should know this but doesn't think we do. I know despite ending my newspaper subscriptions a decade before cutting cable a few years ago.
I'm curious, how much do you skip when reading news articles? A lot, like 50%+?
Good riddance to this dishonest hack. He used to be at least even-handed, but that changed when Trump arrived if not before that. I hope the three viewers he will have at his new employer enjoy him. Maybe I can actually enjoy Fox News Sunday again.
If a Sunday show really mattered to Fox the obvious host would be Tucker Carlson, just to drive Eric Wimple even crazier.
Has Ms. Alhouse seen Patriot Purge?
"The dogs bark; the caravan moves on." Seems to me that media critics wildly overestimate the importance of the individual personalities dishing out news and opinion these days. In the last few years, Fox lost (or booted) Bill O'Reilly, Megan Kelly, and Shepard Smith. Judging by Fox's ratings since then, none of that made the slightest difference to most viewers. Is Chris Wallace really that big a deal to anyone but media critics?
You just know that McCallum is angling for the chair.
She's a lefty but not in-your-face about it, and she's easy on the eyes.
Maybe she can submit a harassment claim to HR to help negotiate the deal...
P.S.
I will delete any extra comments...just tried posting one and Blogger was being worse than usual...
It really is a bad system...
Tim Russert was less partisan than what is on TV now but he lied about Scooter Libby, who was not my favorite person, and got him convicted of perjury.
I quit watching Fox News, except for Tucker, years ago. Did the article mention that his show has the highest ratings on cable news ?
I even subscribed to Fox Nation to watch his interviews with interesting people.
A little perspective ...
"Fox News Channel is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a win—easily defeating its cable news competition in third quarter ratings compiled by Nielsen, with an average prime time audience of 2.372 million viewers, well ahead of MSNBC (1.267 million viewers) and CNN (822,000 viewers)."
Forbes
Statista reports that in 2020 HBO had 41 million subscribers.
Statista
One could say that cable news is fighting over the tiny scraps of cable TV.
Blogger wendybar said...
Never watched Chris. I watch Maria Bartiromo. She asks great questions of every guest, no matter what their ideology.
She is the logical successor to Wallace. I might even watch.
"Tell me again. When did Fox News have trouble replacing anyone?"
Ha ha. Good point. What will Fox do without O'Reilly?!
"I'm curious, how much do you skip when reading news articles? A lot, like 50%+?"
For most of them, everything after the headline.
I wish Fox News was the partisan channel Ann alleges. Every panel includes a lefty repeating the same lefty bromides and adding zero to the topic at hand. They relentlessly give voice to D politicians and progressive activists on the news-oriented shows (unlike the other lefty news shows which rarely invite R and then only to mock them and make them defend things others have said). The sole, as in only, exception to the must-give-time-to-lefty talking points rule at FNC is Gutfeld! Which is probably why Greg’s eponymous exclamatory show tops all late night talk shows and the Fox line up too.
Fox is reestablishing its strengths as personality-driven partisan cable, as are the other networks. I haven't watched any of them in almost 20 years, except occasionally for work, though I do enjoy Tucker Carlson on YouTube. Eric Wemple is not a Glenn Greenwald, a thoughtful and consistent, if shockingly naive contrarian observer. Wemple is a glorified gossip columnist who imagines he is doing media analysis. He's a symptom, or parasite, or pimple on the very system he denounces.
At least someone got him to start wearing shirts with collars to work.
Your ratings would be glorious as you punched shitheads like Pelosi and McConell and Schumer and Ryan and McCarthy in the balls over and over and over again.
I’d watch that show…
Joe Smith said, "Wallace was a political (left) asshole through and through."
I haven't watched Wallace for a long time, so I can't say what he is now. But, I do recall what he once could be. A couple of years into Obama's presidency, Wallace went on a rant about Obama's press office. He may even have called them the biggest bunch of crybabies. I don't remember the exact words. By contrast he praised the Reagan press operation, saying they had remained very professional even when a tough story had broken.
I might however consider paying to watch wildswan's wonderful jussie room. Just like The Real World, only with no sex.
Oh. Scratch that.
There used to be a saying about Roger Ailes--while at FOX news, he identified and catered to an underserved market--50% of the American people. The left is fine with their partisan operators, what angers them is that people have a choice--their control is not total.
This. I laughed at Joe Rogan and Matt Taibbi when they gabbed about CNN being concerned about their ratings because of the revenue. They don’t give a poo about revenue. They are obsessed with INFLUENCE. You can’t manipulate minds if nobody’s watching….
Fox has been using the daily 7 o'clock slot to introduce new faces to the tv audience. Some better than others. But certainly a useful bench for conservative media. Using the same tactic for Sundays may have long term benefits.
Fox is much less partisan than the others
Maybe not, but Fox is a necessary counterbalance to the others. One against the legions, and kicking their asses, too.
Bob Boyd said...
Fox should put a black person if he/she is the most qualified in the slot.
There, fixed it for you.
Replace no one. Cancel Fox News Sunday. Replace with the best segments from the past week of Tucker Carlson.
"Beyond that, the Fox News payroll is thin on potential successors — which is what happens when you fork over your corporate identity to a flamboyant conspiracy theorist."
Unlike Eric Wemple, who is not flamboyant.
Replace no one. Cancel Fox News Sunday. Replace with the best segments from the past week of Tucker Carlson.
That's odd. I assumed Chris Wallace was already on CNN's payroll.
Might as well make it official I guess.
I loved McLaughlin. You had Pat Buchanan giggling until Eleanor Cliff burst a blood vessel. And Tony Blankley. And Tony Blankley's tie.
Nothing has been so fun, ever since. We had a surprisingly lively Georgia roundtable, with the very intelligent liberal Cynthia Tucker (from the hometown of Harper Lee and Truman Capote) and the Blankley-dapper Phil Kent cheerfully punching for the Right. I don't know if it even exists anymore.
No local reception reaches the holler.
"I get it that Althouse is disgusted with The New York Times, ..."
Anybody not disgusted with the outlet that the CIA and even the FBI used to inveigle us into the Iraq war via leaks, and which spent years deceiving it's readers about Ukraine, "Black Ledger" anyone? and has been beating the war drums for a confrontation with Russia while printing Chinese propaganda practically unedited, even while printing a bullshit editorial that claimed that evidence found on Hunter's laptop that Biden and his family are in the pay of the Chinese communists was "Russian Disinformation" without a shred of evidence, that New York Times, anybody not disgusted with it is either an idiot, under its propaganda spell, or morally reprehensible.
Tucker Carlson is honest and effective.
The corrupt collective loyalist left want to destroy him.
how about drafting our current radical truth-telling journalists to the job: I nominate Matt Taibbi and/or Glenn Greenwald.
maybe they could take turns.
Bob Boyd said...
Fox should put a black person in the slot.
Bo Snerdly!!!!
Heavy Hitter??? Fox needs a heavy hitter to compete with George Stephanopolous, and Chuck Todd!!! George a former member of the Clinton Administration and Chuck married to a Democratic operative. Two dem shills masquerading as journalists. Fox needs to go to the local Wash. D.C. little league to get a heavy hitter to compete with two dwarfs both in height (5’2” for Chuck and 5”4” for George) and intellect. Laura Ingraham is my vote. Is there a woman Sunday news anchor? I don’t know cause I don’t watch Sunday news shows.
Fox should put a black person in the slot.
Candace Owens would be awesome, I think.
Why are we pretending - even a little = that Wemple (don't squeeze the charmin or is it Wimple) is an objective journalist who truly cares about "Heavy hitters" doing "Real news".
This is so 180 degrees from reality that its laughable. Do want to write the 1,000 things that prove this in the last 5 years? Wallace was a DNC operative. Stephy was Clinton's Press Secretary, and all the others are so biased they might as well be getting checks from the DNC.Liberals/D's get softballs and their issues get discussed. Trump was trashed every Sunday for 5 years. And is still getting trashed.
And that even ignores how worthless and dumb most of these guest hosts are. They make themselves the center of the show, talk over their guests, ask loaded GOTCHA questions or absurd softballs, regurgitate the latest NYT/DNC party line, and waste 15 minutes with "Roundtable of journalists/pundits" who give us the standard opinions we've heard on every TV Network show and every MSM Newspaper.
As for the guests, they keep asking the same people on - over and over. Is Miss Lindsey still showing up every week? Thank God McCain died, otherwise he'd be on next Sunday.
Ann Althouse said...
"I'm curious, how much do you skip when reading news articles? A lot, like 50%+?"
For most of them, everything after the headline."
Cold. Ice cold. CNN ninus. Today you're on fire!
Wallace really broke any trust he had with the typical Fox viewer with his awful performance in the debate he moderated last year. Softballs to Biden and hardballs to Trump and when Biden made outrageous statements about Trump, he cut Trump off from responding.
If Chris Wallace is joining CNN Minus then he basically got fired.Someone at Fox had a wake up call and remembered Roger Ailes. It appears that Murdoch's sons realized notwithstanding their social world that they and their shareholders are looking for money. Tucker Carlson of late has reminded them why Fox became what it is as foreseen by Roger Ailes. O'Reilly must be eating his heart out. But for his personal misbehaviour he would still be on at eight with Carlson at nine.
The back story on the Eric Wemple Coffee cup
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/02/15/tucker_carlson_roasts_washington_posts_erik_wemple_i_see_you_as_a_political_hack.html
Seems Tucker severely embarrassed Wemple in a debate showing how biased he is.
Seen on InstaPundit: Fox News had 71 of the most-watched shows on cable news. CNN had zero. In sports terms, this is like a free agent choosing to go from a first-place team to a perennial last-place team.
Who is Eric Wemple?
And who are any of the "stars" of NBC, MS-NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS or CNN?
Wonder what the numbers are for all of the Sunday morning TV shows combined? Few and getting fewer is my guess. Maybe Fox will realize it doesn't matter who/what replaces Wallace. The old TV platform is dying, and Whimple doesn't know it or is too traumatized to admit it. In addition to all of the other evidence, just look where is Wallace going -- to a streaming service! That is the future. The Joe Rogan-type show (or Gleen Greenwald, etc) where the creator of content gets to call the shots free from any network BS and people will pay specifically to hear it. They should replace Wallace with Barney the dinosaur. It would be appropriate.
Wemple's wife works at Mother Jones. What does that tell you about Wemple?
Fox has been asking the questions no one else will ask at government press conferences since the Clinton administration. I don't watch TV news but I'm sure Fox will have no trouble finding someone less partisan and more intelligent than Chuck Todd and George Stephanopoulos.
I get it that Wemple is disgusted with Fox News, but he should be disgusted with ALL the television news.
I can only stand about five minutes of Fox News, but that's about four-and-a-half minutes more than anybody else.
I can't imagine wasting a Sunday morning watching cable news.
Who's Eric Wemple, and why would anyone care what he has to write?
Chriss Wallace was really happy that Fox Executives didn't censor him, and left Fox (according to this story) because he's upset that Fox Executives didn't censor Tucker Carlson.
And, gee, the horror if they can't find some other leftist DC swamp creature to replace Wallace.
Because we all know that only a "expert" member of the DC swamp can ask questions of politicians.
/sarc
Fox News is too politically partisan
Well, since Chris Wallace is a hard core leftist who often served as the "face" of Fox News, there's two possibilities here:
1: Fox is too left wing
2: You're wrong
Which is it?
Hell haveth no furry like deplorables scorned. Tempest fuggeddabbowdit.
Recall that Fox News is the place that gleefully predicted Democrats would pick up 15 seats in teh House, while voting was still going on on the West Coast (they lost, what 12 seats?)
So yes, Fox News is too left wing partisan. Hopefully they'll fix that
Chris Wallace is about 74 and was steadily losing the audience and had a solid hold on last place. I could replace him and get better numbers, meaning anyone with a functioning brain and some objectivity probably could. I'm guessing his contract was not renewed and he is trying to save face by signing with CNN.
I have a wildcard recommendation for Fox - Lawrence Jones.
Chris Wallace wasn't the worst person in the media, but it was almost as if he aspired to be. It seemed like he wished he were at CNN, and now he is. Maybe not seeing how lucky he was to be at FNC and how pathetic the other cable outfits were does make him somehow the worst of all.
But I wonder if Mike Wallace would have been such a hard-ass with Biden or if he'd be as much of a squish as Junior.
WaPo has been peddling conspiracy theories since Watergate. To their credit, demos-cracy is indeed aborted in darkness.
If you disgree with anything spouted by the progressive left, you are either a conspiracy theorist or a climate-science-denier. That's not the sort of response and name calling that leads to rational debate.
And as our host observes Fox had no trouble replacing Bloviating Bill O'Reilly.
A near perfect post.
My only complaint is there is so much more that could be said about the horror show of TV news (and yes FOX along with the rest, both sides of which rely on each other in co-dependent mutual faked hatred), its multifaceted visual manipulativeness, its relentless voice of panic and anxiety, its use of bimbos and pretty-faced nobodies who could not pass an introductory history exam, its obscene reliance on administrative state insiders with axes to grind, etc., etc., etc.
Thanks Ace and John Nolte:
For nearly 20 years, Chris Wallace has been the one and only Fox News name brutalized in the ratings.
Last week is a perfect example:
Face the Nation: 2.8 million viewers.
Meet the Press: 2.6 million
This Week: 2.5 million
Fox News Sunday: 1.2 million
So I’m not accused of cherry-picking, here are the ratings for the 2020-2021 season:
Face the Nation: 3.4 million
Meet the Press: 3.3 million
This Week: 3.1 million
Fox News Sunday: 1.3 million
Even I didn't realize exactly how low rated Wallace was.
One thing that's clear: Fox is going to have a hard time finding someone whose ratings will be as pathetically low as Chris Wallace's ratings are
typingtalker said...
A little perspective ...
"Fox News Channel is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a win—easily defeating its cable news competition in third quarter ratings compiled by Nielsen, with an average prime time audience of 2.372 million viewers, well ahead of MSNBC (1.267 million viewers) and CNN (822,000 viewers)."
Forbes
Statista reports that in 2020 HBO had 41 million subscribers.
And now we play another round of "stupid, or just dishonest"?
Do those "41 million subscribers" include HBO Max? because I got it free with ATT, and have never watched it.
You can not honestly compare "watchers at a certain time" with "subscribers" in any meaningful sense.
So, are you an idiot, comparing apples too pebbles? Or just a lying hack?
Greg The Class Traitor asked, "So, are you an idiot, comparing apples too [sic] pebbles? Or just a lying hack?"
My comment included links to the sources. Click and learn.
Fox news better vet whoever they select with Wemple, and maybe Brian Stelter, to make sure it has elite-media approval - because they both are the recognized official arbiters of un-biased gravitas and quality.
Doug said...
Bob Boyd said...
Fox should put a black person if he/she is the most qualified in the slot.
There, fixed it for you.
The most qualified? What does that even mean? There are black people who are absolutely qualified. They should give one of them the job. Not necessarily a "trained journalist" either. Better if it isn't a "journo." It's not really a "journalism" position anyway. It's acting.
Qualified, to me, means the person can attract and hold an audience in the role. I don't give a Home Depot bucket where they went to school or what eminent news org they may have worked at before. None of that matters now. Better not to be associated with such a contemptible bunch as "journalists." Fox watchers will happily piss all over any "journalist" who holds still long enough and rightfully so.
A smart, popular black person doing a fine job and attracting a big share on Sunday would help defang the lefty criticism of the network which is always, "Racist Racist Racist" no matter what. The Fox audience would love to love a black person in that slot. Give them what they want.
Get an attractive woman with a killer body, cleavage, flowing hair. Staff will feed her questions and prep for interviews. set a precedent, dominate Sunday morning.
RichAndSceptical said...
I have a wildcard recommendation for Fox - Lawrence Jones.
12/13/21, 3:16 PM
HELL YES!!
I'd love to see Harris Faulkner selected. She hosts 2 daytime shows on Fox and always interacts with guests with respect. She asks great questions and emanates fierce intelligence. It's a bonus that she a black female because that would drive the left crazy.
'I have a wildcard recommendation for Fox - Lawrence Jones.'
He's black, but he's also very green...needs time to develop.
Oh, Fox has to find someone with impeccable journalistic cred and history, like George Stephanopolous or Chuck Todd or Jake Tapper?
Give me a break, I'm laughing so hard I think I pulled a muscle.
Not Sure said...
If a Sunday show really mattered to Fox the obvious host would be Tucker Carlson, just to drive Eric Wimple even crazier.
-------
I recall that Tucker Carlson has said he does not have / watch TV
"Hell haveth no furry..."
Best typo of the week. Probably the execrable auto-correct, or Howard knows something Dante missed.
DC shows are different from NYC shows. You can't just sit on a couch and say what you think. You have to cultivate politicians and bureaucrats, get interviews with them and sound convincing enough and deferential enough that they will talk to you again. To have the job is to become a captive of the political Establishment. That didn't matter so much when Wallace was hired. Republican or Democrat, everyone in DC was part of the Establishment. Now the Establishment has circled the wagons and Chris is on the inside with them.
typingtalker said...
Greg The Class Traitor asked, "So, are you an idiot, comparing apples too [sic] pebbles? Or just a lying hack?"
My comment included links to the sources. Click and learn.
I don't need to learn the difference between "subscribers" and "viewers". Not being a moron, I already understand taht one.
So, your defense is that you're a moron?
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