Outside the Beltway

Chris Wallace Leaving Fox News

He is heading to CNN+

Steven L. Taylor
6

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Via the NYT: Chris Wallace to Leave Fox News for CNN’s Streaming Service.

Chris Wallace, whose stewardship of two presidential debates and penetrating interviews of world leaders made him the leading anchor of Fox News’s reportorial ranks, announced on Sunday that he had decided to leave the Rupert Murdoch-owned network after 18 years.

He will become an anchor for CNN+, the new streaming service from CNN that is expected to debut next year.

[…]

“It is the last time, and I say this with real sadness, we will meet like this,” Mr. Wallace told viewers at the end of his Sunday broadcast.

I have not watched Fox News Sunday (nor any of the Sunday shows, save via clips) in quite some time. Nonetheless, this strikes me as significant because Wallace is one of the few serious contributors left on FNC. While I am sure that there are examples and issues one might like to take up about Wallace, he was, unlike many of his colleagues, tethered to reality.

This strikes me as a reasonable assessment:

An equal-opportunity interrogator of Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Wallace proved himself an outlier at times at Fox News, particularly in recent years when the network’s conservative opinion hosts closed ranks behind former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Wallace’s criticisms of Mr. Trump earned rebukes from some viewers and the president’s own Twitter account, but he also irritated liberals who wished he would denounce his partisan colleagues.

One suspects the new gig is good money and better working conditions.

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6 responses to “Chris Wallace Leaving Fox News”

  1. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    The one-eyed man leaves the land of the blind to join the land of the badly nearsighted.

    12
  2. MarkedMan Avatar
    MarkedMan

    One suspects the new gig is good money and better working conditions

    I suspect the opposite. It has long been reported that Wallace, Brett Baier, Kristin Fisher, Shep Smith were paid a hefty premium to stay in the Fox pig sty, a market reality given the stench they take with them when they leave. Baier is the only one left, and I assume the rest took pay cuts to get out.

    5
  3. EddieInCA Avatar
    EddieInCA

    One suspects the new gig is good money and better working conditions.

    From an insider: “Wallace has been trying to leave FNC since January. His reps approached ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, and even Al Jazeera. CNN was the only one that bit, and only for their streaming service. No matter how “down the middle” (right….) he has been, the stench of Fox is real when it comes to other jobs. How many ex-Fox news people successfully land other high profile jobs. Look at what happened to Megan Kelley and Carl Cameron, for example. None of the big companies would hire him. He’s taking a huge salary cut to work for CNN+, but he’s banked over $75M so money isn’t an issue for him”.

    This is a HUGE loss for FNC. That leaves Brett Baier. But I believe Baier will never leave because he has seen what happens to ex-Fox news people.

    9
  4. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    @EddieInCA:

    Eventually Baier will leave, maybe sooner now that Wallace is gone. Someday, he’ll hang up the phone from a conversation with his financial advisor and check his messages only to see that another sh#t show has exploded at Faux. He’ll consider the size of his portfolio and realize that he couldn’t spend it in his lifetime and likely his grandchildren couldn’t either and quit. Being the last sane person in the asylum, can’t be pleasant.

    6
  5. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Sleeping Dog: Exactly! Just for the record, Chris Wallace is 74 according to the bio box provided by Yahoo. It’s been time for him to exit for about 7 years. What is it about boomers that we stay in dysfunctional settings rather than retire? Is the fame of being a “television personality” (no, I won’t call him a journalist) that important? Doesn’t he have a life outside Faux News?

    4
  6. Dudley Sharp Avatar
    Dudley Sharp

    Wallace is a wonderful newsman and I wish him the very best. I would have hoped he would have taken over the entire CNN news group as they are gawd awful and he could turn it around. Maybe that will, still, happen. He’sold, but still has all his senses.

    The leaving of intelligence reporter Catherine Herridge,from Fox to CBS, was, a larger more, for me, as I find her the best intelligence reporter, of them all.

    Howard Kurtz, Fox’s media reporters is, simply, excellent and,like Wallace, strives to get intelligent and true liberals and conservatives to interview. He’s former CNN and gave a great farewell to Wallace.

    I find it required to watch/listen to both liberal and conservative mews. Even then, there is no guarantee you will hear half credible reporting, between them, but, at least, you get two perspectives, which many, sadly, will not seek.

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