The United States of America has always been known for the blunt nature of its press media, where strikingly offensive ideas are often freely expressed in strongly-worded speeches on national platforms. This is because in America, society covets freedom of speech. It values the ability for people to express their ideas and opinions so long as public order or morality is reasonably protected. Therefore, when a major news network fires a major opinion personality that has been at the forefront of the political discourse for years, the American public gets talking.
When two of the most well-known hosts in two of the highest-rated cable news networks get fired on the same day with no official reason publicized, the murmur of the American public gets compounded into a chaotic frenzy of speculation and worry. That happened on Monday, April 24, 2023, when it was announced that Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Don Lemon of CNN were both fired from their respective networks.
In this article, we will offer our perspective on speculated reasons for each firing, and more importantly, draw some conclusions about American media: in terms of its outlook, characteristics, and political strategies within.
Tucker’s firing
Tucker Carlson’s firing was made known to him on Monday itself, as he was preparing for his show that evening – he was not expecting, nor warned about it, as the last words of his final show the previous Friday was “we’ll see you Monday”. There were generally three categories of speculation: commercial, controversy, and harassment.
Carlson was enjoying pizza with a guest for his final segment of Tucker Carlson Tonight, seemingly unaware of his termination.
Image Credits: Yahoo News
Firstly, commercial. This point of view was most notably brought up by Mark Kelly from Newsmax, where she mentioned in a segment that Tucker Carlson’s show did not bring in a reasonably proportionate amount of advertising revenue considering its popularity. According to iSpot.tv, Carlson’s show had none of the typical large-scale brands of luxury car makers, high-demand telecommunications service providers, or banks and brokerages. Instead, Carlson’s #1 advertiser is… Fox itself – running advertisements for other Fox programs, such as Carlson’s own Fox Nation channel. His second-largest advertiser was My Pillow, which, albeit provided the most cashflow, would not have come close to the traditional chain-store advertiser.
Therefore, given the community’s impression of CEO Rupert Murdoch as a business-centric, profit-incentivized investor, it was predicted that he may have been disappointed by Carlson’s less-than-ideal appeal to advertisers in his prime time hour. He may have thought that a less controversial figure would have been better at bringing in more lucrative advertising bids, and therefore deserved the spot more than Carlson.
After all, following Carlson’s replacement by other relatively centrist Fox hosts like Kayleigh McEnany and Brian Kilmeade, “40 new advertisers” had “come into the hour”, according to Jeff Collins, executive vice president of ad sales. Most notably, it included generally left-leaning advertiser Procter & Gamble, which was also seen as one of the largest and most influential advertisers.
This theory, though sensible, may still draw doubt. For one, although Carlson’s show did not draw an advertising revenue proportionate to its viewer base, it still earned the network more revenue than any other show – $77.5 million in 2022, as compared to $50.4 million by Sean Hannity and $53.7 million by Laura Ingraham, his fellow prime time personalities. Therefore, from a business standpoint, perhaps Carlson did still bring irreplaceable value to Fox’s finances.
One other reason was centered around Carlson’s controversial nature. Despite being seen by the general viewership as a courageous yet candid beacon of free speech, the targets of his speech may not have felt the same towards Carlson. This group included Dominion Voting Systems, which reportedly received substantial criticism and had its reputation tarnished after Carlson’s show brought it up post-election 2020. Dominion had filed a lawsuit against Fox News for defamation, which related to certain segments from Tucker Carlson Tonight, including but not limited to Sidney Powell’s appearance during which she declared that there was fraud “of biblical proportions”, before pushing blame of that onto Dominion. A settlement of $787.5 million was reached, which not only affected Fox financially, but also in terms of its reputation, which some have speculated was the final straw that led to Carlson’s firing.
Other examples of Carlson potentially having tarnished Fox’s reputation included but are not limited to his coverage of January 6 footage that showed no violence on the QAnon Shaman’s end, his hardline anti-immigration stance that many have found culminated into racist attacks, and reflecting a vaccine-hesitant attitude during the COVID pandemic.
Don Lemon’s firing
There were 2 narratives when the world found out about Don Lemon’s departure from CNN, both of which violently juxtaposed with the other. One was of sheer disbelief and indignance, and one was of the neutral corporate talk of CNN thanking Lemon for his service.
With a reputation as a fiery political commentator within his 8 years as the prime-time television anchor on CNN This Morning, Don Lemon was one of CNN’s most recognizable talents. His termination seemed to have come after the controversial assertion on air toward Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old 2024 Republican Presidential candidate, that she was simply not in her prime, stating that a woman was only in her prime between the age of 20 to 40. Despite apologizing and agreeing to undertake a corporate training programme following the interaction, it appeared as the last straw that broke the camel's back in the ultimate decision to terminate his contract.
In recent weeks, CNN’s bookers discovered that a handful of guests did not want to appear on air with Mr Lemon, and research on the morning show reviewed by CNN executives found his popularity with audiences to have fallen. It certainly also didn’t help circumstances at all when tensions between Don Lemon and one of his co-anchors Kaitlan Collins rose as Lemon accused Collins of interrupting him too often. This is, however, not at all surprising. No matter the journalistic ambitions or optimisms, the name of the game, especially given the cutthroat American media landscape, remains to be eyeballs and profits. American media prides itself in its capacity as a standalone business, perhaps noble in its endeavors sometimes, but still fundamentally profit-driven. The Washington Post grandiloquently proclaims “Democracy Dies in Darkness”, but it is the Post that dies without hitting its yearly subscription targets.
This was not the first time controversy arose, however. Chris Cuomo as you may recall another CNN anchor was given an indefinite suspension in November 2021 after testimony and text messages released by the New York attorney general revealed a more intimate and engaged role in his brother’s political affairs than the network previously said it had known.
The move was a significant representation of political bias by Chris Cuomo who not only, on a professional level, was regarded to have committed a major breach of ethical standards expected of a journalist, but also notably damaged CNN’s trust and image at the time. For CNN, anything short of firing Chris Cuomo would inadvertently signal a compromise away from established journalistic standards.
Following Chris Cuomo’s departure, CNN’s total prime-time viewership plunged around 70% from its average fourth-quarter projections of 2020, according to Nielsen, placing the network in third behind MSNBC, which had a 52% drop in the same span of time. This was, of course, just another reminder to media executives of the successful model of eschewing traditional, direct newsgathering in favour of partisan and personality-driven commentary, especially in an era of hyper-partisanship.
Cuomo’s departure also left a gaping hole in CNN’s 9 pm primetime slot, inducing a change in viewer’s content consumption habits. If one thing is for sure, Cuomo’s long tenure as the primetime anchor provided consistency within the average CNN viewer, and if there's one thing cable news watchers dislike, it’s unfamiliarity.
With the departure of now two of CNN’s most recognizable anchors, the PR disaster of CNN’s reputation certainly proves more damaging than the loss of a familiar and well-recognized face. In a business review of CNN in October 2022 after the firing of Cuomo, CNN Chief Chris Licht acknowledged the deterioration of CNN’s image in recent years, especially the idea of its brand being tarnished during the Trump administration but at the same time, reinforcing that CNN’s brand was the world's most trusted brand in terms of journalism, and pledged to pave the way ahead through responsible and level-headed reporting.
Such a promise could perhaps be of some rational explanation in making sense of Don Lemon’s firing, indicating a firm commitment to move away from the trendy utilizations of sensationalism in its reporting and striding toward more level-headed ones. Whatever the case is, CNN’s commitment to re-establishing its brand is a journey that can only be done through careful intentions with long-term unfaltering care.
This is, however, still highly questionable given that the rise of personality-driven, sensational newscasting still faces no reason in halting. Funnily enough, this was the position CNN had been in in 2012 but just in reverse, when sensational news just began to gain its footing and outlets such as Fox and MSNBC performed better than the intentionally neutral and objectivity-centric CNN at the time, forcing CNN to pivot into the left-leaning news body we know today to keep up with the competition. If providing more objective, neutral and level-headed reporting was CNN’s way to regain public trust, being something the media outlet simply isn’t defeats the whole purpose of such an endeavor. It would need to reconcile the highly romanticized concept of truth within the average American and the less exciting journalistic demands of gathering and delivering information - a rigid dichotomy.
The spectacular failures of the broadcast streaming service CNN+ and the massive economic inadequacies of CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery had set CNN profits to dip below 1 billion dollars in 2022, for the first time since 2016 when Trump was elected. This resulted in massive layoffs and corporate cutbacks within the network and greatly affected the trust of CNN employees. Needless to say, the layoffs and controversies surrounding Don Lemon are not something CNN needs now. Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson have also reportedly hired the same top Hollywood lawyer Bryan Freedman. Blessed with the incredible might and political power wielded by Tucker Carlson, it is no doubt that all eyes will be set on the story of Network vs Anchor, a public spectacle that only exacerbates the PR problem CNN currently faces now.
Clearly, institutional media outlets substantially amplify the voice of the presenter, traditionally reaching out to millions of consumers daily. It naturally awards great agency to the presenter of leading the political discourse, influencing the views of those in the ever-shifting ideological base. Meanwhile, it is also true that as these presenters make their regular appearances, they maintain a presence on the platform. If successful, this culminates into a unique, loyal and engaged audience base unique to the presenters themselves. Take Fox News as an example – Tucker Carlson’s show caters to a different – more conservative – audience than fellow primetime host Sean Hannity, who is seen as a more “mainstream” conservative.
When this level of viewership is reached, it is more likely the case that the Fox News platform no longer serves as the source of influence for hosts like Carlson. Instead, it is him that drives his influence – people listen to his show because it’s his show, and not because it’s a show on Fox. Therefore, at a certain point, the power to influence lies within personalities and individuals, not within institutions that engage in information.
Furthermore, as the saying goes: “money is power”. Assuming the commercialization theory behind Carlson’s firing is true, it reflects a slightly disconcerting truth – that money controls speech, and not politics. Carlson, despite reflecting the views of tens of millions of Americans, was deplatformed due to commercial reasons. It shows that in the face of profits and finances, genuine popularity and the relentless pursuit of free expression does not prevail. So much for abiding by the First Amendment.
Another observation that may be counterintuitive to how we generally rationalize sensational speech is that perhaps extreme views may not be as profitable as relatively more “mainstream” ones. At a certain point, while people may echo the sentiments of perhaps relatively extreme views, society’s adherence to political correctness and general sensitivity causes the mainstream to steer clear of controversy. Despite the potential outreach to the widest viewer base of all cable television shows, the largest cable advertisers have, as mentioned previously, firmly refused to run advertisements on Carlson’s show, for fear of being entangled in, or associated with, its controversial nature. It truly begs the question on the profitability of extreme views – despite the high viewership rates, is that really the most financially sound approach to media?
Finally, in researching for this article, a statistic stood out: Fox News is America’s most watched cable news network, by a long shot.
In the top 15 cable news shows of all time, 14 belong to Fox News.
Image Credits: Cable Compare
Throughout the years of modern political discourse, Republicans have often lamented that the right wing suffers from a disproportionately low level of representation, with only Fox News on their side, as opposed to the left, which is often said to enjoy a coverage bias from CNN, MSNBC and ABC. By simply counting the number of news outlets, this assertion may hold merit. However, as seen by the list above, Fox alone is so popular that its viewer base alone matches that of CNN, MSNBC and ABC combined.
This is not to say that the right wing enjoys the same quantity and quality of press publicity as the left wing. Because the left wing is backed by three different establishments with varying degrees of objectivity and credibility, relatively extreme views can be more easily justified on certain platforms. For example, it is widely acknowledged that CNN is much more left-leaning than its other liberal counterparts, and therefore, as liberal viewpoints are regularly presented on it, these viewpoints are attributed to just CNN, which carries a portion of liberal voters.
Image Credits: Ponyter
Meanwhile, for Fox, which caters to the conservative base as a whole, different presenters carry varying levels of partisanship, with some shows even favoring the left. This inadvertently causes an inaccurate association between Fox and specific presenters. As an opinion presenter like Carlson speaks on his Fox program, many attribute his right-leaning views to Fox News as a whole, painting it in a more partisan light than it is.
This also means that the liberal media can simply associate the entirety of the Fox News channel as part of the extreme right, to discount the voices and credibility of many of its more neutral presenters.
Alas, in protecting the First Amendment, in God we trust.
References
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CNN job cuts coming as CEO Chris Licht concludes business review. (2022, October 26). CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/26/cnn-chief-chris-licht-business-review-job-cuts.html
Hiltzik, M. (2021, April 30). With ads like these, does Tucker Carlson benefit Fox News? Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-04-30/tucker-carlson-major-advertisers
Katz, A. (2023, January 3). These Are the Top-Rated Cable News Shows of 2022. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/these-are-the-top-rated-cable-news-shows-of-2022/521247/
Mullin, B. (2021, December 10). CNN Faces Prime-Time Uncertainty After Firing Chris Cuomo. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/cnn-prime-time-uncertainty-firing-chris-cuomo
Mullin, B. (2022, August 2). CNN Profits Are Down as Ratings Plummet. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/business/media/cnn-profit-chris-licht.html
Steinberg, B., & Wallenstein, A. (2023, May 8). After Tucker Carlson Left Fox, Advertisers Are Returning to 8PM Slot. Variety. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/tucker-carlson-fox-news-advertisers-return-1235606123/
Zilber, A. (2022, October 26). CNN faces job cuts as new boss Chris Licht vows 'right-sizing'. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/cnn-faces-job-cuts-as-new-boss-chris-licht-vows-right-sizing/
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