Conservatism's Most Powerful Voice

A massive shudder went through the world of conservative media yesterday.

The King of American punditry and television ratings, Tucker Carlson will no longer be a host on Fox News

At this point, there is no definitive answer to why but there are competing theories.

The first is that he was sacked while the second is that he quit.

Here's the background to both.

The dominant story is that he was sacked.

If that's true, the reason for it are yet to be confirmed but there are a number of suggestions.

Among them, Carlson was critical of management at Fox and the evidence of this was included in the legal discovery surrounding a defamation suit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems.

That law suit was settled before trial with Fox paying Dominion in excess of $1 billion. A number of legal minds question this settlement as it looked like Fox was on a solid legal footing.

It may have been that the exposure of the inner workings of the media might have caused even more public pain than a $1 billion payment.

There has also been speculation that the Murdoch's are looking to sell Fox and that process is a bit tougher when Carlson is part of the mix.

He attracts expensive law suits and complaints, the costs of which are not offset by the limited advertising he attracts.

It's still a huge call to sack your most watched presenter.

There is also an opposing theory. This one states that Carlson quit because a story he was doing was pulled by network executives.

It could be true but as I said previously, we don't know all the facts yet.

From my perspective, I suspect Carlson was pushed. I know a little of how the media works and sometimes, those pursuing the truth can be caught in the crosshairs of cancel culture.

Carlson went where few others dared to go. That's why people watched him. Even I was amazed at the latitude he was granted in some of his monologues.

That amazement wasn't because what he said wasn't accurate, I was just surprised his network allowed him to go there.

They often reminded me of another former Fox News presenter, Glenn Beck. He was sacked from his high rating daily show in 2011. Apparently his 'conspiracy theories' were too out there for some, even thought the viewers watched in droves.

That many of the 'conspiracies' turned out to be correct was of no consequence. Beck simply rocked too many boats and hence had to go.

The boats rocked included the all important advertisers. Networks need them to make money. They also need viewers as they get paid as a share cable subscription revenues based on the numbers of people watching.

Increasingly, they also rely on digital platforms, like Youtube, for increased monetisation.

The big problem comes when what attracts viewers turns off advertisers and can also get you cancelled from the social media space.

It's a fine line and one that clearly Fox have made a decision about.

Even if Carlson quit over a pulled story, Fox were prepared to let their biggest star go. That speaks volumes about the parlous state of the conservative broadcasting space.

It's why independent conservative media groups like the Daily Wire (DW) are growing exponentially. They can push more boundaries and pay more money to attract top talent.

They (DW) recently offered a popular but niche commentator a reputed $50 million contract over 5 years. The talent turned it down.

Others, like Dan Bongino, who's contract was also recently not renewed by Fox, have some of the top rating content on the Internet.

They make a lot of money despite being blacklisted by Youtube and others.

This is the world we now live in. There is no space left in legacy media for those that want to rip the scab off of the global corruption.

Businesses have surrendered to the power of the woke mob and networks have caved to the might of government.

Regrettably, this process was as predictable as most everything else the Leftists pursue.

That said, even I am surprised that they could get conservatism's most powerful public voice.