Broadcaster Tucker Carlson parts ways with Fox News
Tucker Carlson's departure from Fox News will send shockwaves across the American right, ITV News correspondent Robert Moore reports
Fox News has “agreed to part ways” with its influential and controversial host Tucker Carlson, less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network's 2020 election reporting.
The US network said in a press release that the last program of Tucker Carlson Tonight aired Friday.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the press release from the network announced on Monday.
Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2016.
He has also consistently drawn headlines for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the January 6th Capitol insurrection to minimise the impact of the deadly attack.
There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson was leaving.
Fox agreed last week to pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million and acknowledged that some of its reporting following the 2020 election - which allowed former President Donald Trump's aides to amplify false charges of election fraud - was incorrect.
But that reporting mostly concerned other shows, not Carlson’s.
His name did come up during the case, primarily because of email and text messages that were revealed as part of the lawsuit.
Carlson and other Fox hosts were caught in private messages doubting their own network's allegations about Dominion's role in the supposed election fraud, while also being concerned that Fox was losing an audience among Trump fans at the time.
In some of them, Carlson privately criticised Trump, saying he "hated him passionately".
A few weeks ago, Carlson devoted his entire show to an interview with Trump.
Fox News Tonight will air instead in Carlson's prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities, for the time being.
Separately, rival news network CNN announced on Monday it had "parted ways" with veteran TV anchor Don Lemon.
Lemon announced the news on Twitter, saying he was informed by his agent that he was being terminated.
Neither CNN nor Lemon detailed the reasons behind the decision, but the presenter did take to Twitter to say he was "stunned" by the move.
Lemon wrote: "I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.
"At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.
"It is clear that there are some larger issues at play."
A statement posted on CNN's official communications Twitter account read: "Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years.
"We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors."
An hour later the account issued another statement that read: "Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate.
"He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter."
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