Last week, Fox News kicked one of its biggest stars off the air. Maria Bartiromo was reportedly suspended from network programming after she shared internal directives from the Trump administration. (Representatives for Bartiromo deny she was fired from the network.)
The White House has accused Fox News of silencing MAGA views, but Bartiromo may well be back on her feet: Rumors suggest she could do a gig on “60 Minutes” or perhaps work in the White House press corps.
The network has a habit of creating prominent conservative personalities and also abruptly discarding them. Right-wing messages and news may change over time, but one thing remains constant: No Fox News star has ever been bigger than Fox News itself.
Week
Leave your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
Sign up for the free newsletter of the week
Join over 350,000 subscribers and stay up to date with the week’s most interesting, educational and entertaining stories, as well as daily puzzles.
Join over 350,000 subscribers and stay up to date with the week’s most interesting, educational and entertaining stories, as well as daily puzzles.
Tucker Carlson
Carlson lost to CNN and MSNBC before “Tucker Carlson Tonight” became popular on Fox News during Donald Trump first term. He became known online for his “inflammatory monologues about immigrants, black civil rights activists, vaccines and national identity” and “became one of Fox’s biggest names.” New York Times said when Carlson was fired in 2023.
It was said that he was even a possible Republican presidential candidate. But Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, filed after the 2020 election, found that Carlson’s “polemic, pro-Trump persona” on air didn’t always match his behind-the-scenes comments. “I hate him with a passion,” Carlson said in a text released during the lawsuit, according to the Times.
Fox News took Carlson off the air in April 2023, a week after the network settled Dominion’s lawsuit for $787.5 million. He maintained a high profile by hosting interviews on Channel X. And he made peace with Trump while speaking at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
But Carlson’s opinion remains controversial. He is a member of the “MAGA splinter faction that is increasingly at odds with President Trump” over Iran Warsaid Axios. He also caused controversy in the conservative movement with comments “criticizing Israel and flirting with alternative theories about World War II,” he said. Hill.
Bill O’Reilly
O’Reilly was arguably Fox News’s first star, launching the show that became known as “The O’Reilly Factor” when the network first aired in October 1996. NBC News said when the network cut ties in 2017.
The presenter was upset by repeated accusations of sexual harassment starting in 2002. In one case, O’Reilly reportedly paid a producer $9 million. The network also paid $13 million to a group of five women who “claimed they were victims of lewd comments, verbal harassment or unwanted sexual advances,” NBC News reported.
The network let him go with obvious reluctance. O’Reilly “was the undisputed king of cable news — and for good reason,” replacement anchor Dana Perino said on air the night his departure was announced, according to NBC. These days he leads “Bill O’Reilly News and Analysis No Spin” and appears on NewsNation programs.
Glenn Beck
Beck burned brightly and then quickly burned out during his two years at Fox. His show debuted the day before President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and the new host soon took viewers on a roller coaster ride that “included conspiracy theories, wild accusations and predictions of doom.” NPR said in 2011.
It caused a sensation, but by the time he left Fox News its “ratings were falling” and “hundreds” of advertisers left the show. Beck remained active in conservative media, founding Blaze Media.
Shepard Smith
Unlike previous figures on this list, Smith was not known as a pundit or commentator. But his departure was remarkable.
He spent 23 years at Fox News and anchored the network’s more traditional news programs. This made him an “outlier” in Fox NewsWhen Smith “abruptly” ended his contract in 2019, the Associated Press reported.
Smith often “made harsh reports refuting claims made by Trump and his supporters,” prompting backlash from both the president and Fox News viewers, the AP reported. “If you feel like Fox viewers have received misinformation or disinformation, I was there to make sure they got it right,” Smith told PBS journalist Christiane Amanpour in 2021, according to Hollywood Reporter. Smith moved to CNBC. His show there was canceled in 2022.
Roger Ailes
Ailes created Fox News in 1996. He was a “former top adviser to Republican presidents” who turned the fledgling news network into “a must-have for any Republican candidate vying for the top job.” Wall Street Journal said when Ailes resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal in 2016.
Six years after its launch, the network “overtook CNN” as the cable news ratings leader, the magazine reported. It wasn’t enough to save the career of Ailes, who quit weeks after former Fox host Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit alleging he retaliated after she “rejected his advances.” Ailes “has made an outstanding contribution to our company and our country,” Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in a message to the newsroom about his departure, according to the magazine. Ailes died the following year.
