OVERVIEW
MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
POSSIBILITIES
CAPITALS
ACTIVITIES
ACTORS
BURGESS
|
MEDIA
FOX NEWS ... TUCKER CARLSON FIRED Tucker Carlson’s abrupt Fox News exit fits with Murdoch playbook 
Original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/25/tucker-carlson-fired-rupert-murdoch-fox/ Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
Tucker Carlson’s abrupt Fox News exit fits with Murdoch playbook
By Frances Vinall
April 25, 2023 at 5:27 a.m. EDT
Tucker Carlson, left, was a leading host at Fox News, which is controlled by media baron Rupert Murdoch, right. (From left: Jason Koerner; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, Australia — Tucker Carlson’s sudden dismissal from his Fox News host position Monday was only the latest in a decades-long string of high-profile departures from Rupert Murdoch’s media outlets.
Whether they were based in the United States, Britain or Australia, several employees who were previously lauded within the Murdoch businesses have found themselves without a job, some with seemingly little warning. In a successful wrongful dismissal lawsuit, one former top Murdoch news editor in Australia characterized his 2008 termination as “capricious” and coming just after he had bought a house in the city where he worked.
Carlson was fired a week after Fox settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems in which his private texts were publicly released. The messages showed Carlson being occasionally critical of Fox management and using misogynistic language. The network is also facing legal action from Abby Grossberg, a former booker for Carlson’s show, who alleged she faced a sexist and hostile work environment. Fox is contesting her allegations, while Carlson has not publicly commented on the suit.
Fox was resigned to a tough trial. Then, a secret mediator stepped in.
There has been an increase in high-profile departures of Murdoch employees who faced allegations of sexism and harassment since Lachlan Murdoch returned to the family business in 2014, said Paddy Manning, author of “The Successor,” a biography of the eldest Murdoch son. Lachlan is now chief executive of Fox Corp, the parent of Fox News, and was a key player in the decision to oust Carlson, The Washington Post has reported.
Roger Ailes, who helped the Murdochs build a highly profitable and influential U.S. cable news network, was forced out in 2016 after a former Fox News anchor sued for sexual harassment and more than two dozen other women alleged that he engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior. Ailes, who died in 2017, denied the allegations at the time.
Bill O’Reilly, Carlson’s predecessor in Fox News’s 8 p.m. prime time slot, was removed in 2017 after a string of sexual harassment allegations against him. He also denied the accusations.
Both departures came after the start of the #MeToo movement that seeks to combat sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination.
“Lachlan is pretty sensitive to accusations of a toxic work environment where sexual harassment is involved,” said Manning. He added that many high-profile ousters were not due to one specific event, but “a buildup and then a final last straw.”
Fox News did not immediately return a request for comment on how the Murdochs handle dismissals.
Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch, seen in 2018, is “pretty sensitive to accusations of a toxic work environment,” his biographer said. (Michael Cohen/Getty Images)
Such removals of talent predate Rupert Murdoch’s son’s involvement in the company.
“Murdoch was notorious for the ruthless eviction of editors, for whom warning bells began to ring most loudly when their proprietor became effusive in their praise,” the Glasgow Herald wrote in 1983.
Harold Evans, promoted to editor of the Times of London after it was bought by Murdoch in 1981, wrote in a memoir that he was forced to resign after the media baron violated promises not to interfere in how the newspaper was run. “One minute he’s swimming along with a smile, and then snap! There’s blood in the water. Your head’s gone,” he quoted another Times journalist as saying about Murdoch.
(The senior Murdoch has said under oath to a British judicial inquiry that he fired Evans after being informed of a staff mutiny against their editor.)
Bruce Guthrie, who edited the Herald Sun, a Melbourne tabloid, was dismissed in 2008, less than two years after he was hired. He told an Australian court that he was let go because the newspaper’s managing director did not believe they were getting along. Guthrie said that was not the case. The court awarded him damages of roughly $400,000 after finding he was wrongfully fired.
Guthrie also wrote a book about his dismissal. Its title: “Man Bites Murdoch: Four Decades in Print, Six Days in Court.”
Jimmy Kimmel, Desi Lydic, Jimmy Fallon and other comedians poked fun at Tucker Carlson’s split with Fox News during their shows April 24. (Video: Julie Yoon/The Washington Post)
By Frances Vinall ... Frances Vinall is a reporter and researcher for The Washington Post who is based in Melbourne, Australia.
|
| The text being discussed is available at | https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/25/tucker-carlson-fired-rupert-murdoch-fox/ and |