The media world was stunned after veteran journalist Chris Wallace left Fox News after 18 years to join CNN plus in December last year.
And now, the former Fox News anchor shed light on his reason for leaving the network late last year, saying it had grown increasingly difficult to reconcile some of the opinions being expressed by its top.
Here’s what Wallace told The New York Times during his first interview since his departure on Sunday:
“I just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox. I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion … But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”
Wallace was often seen as an outlier in Fox News, one of the few big-name stars at the network who openly contradicted its more extreme voices. But after the election, Wallace said he felt a clear shift at Fox News as the network got rid of its nightly newscast and promoted its most controversial hosts.
Wallace said:
“Before, I found it was an environment in which I could do my job and feel good about my involvement at Fox. And since November of 2020, that just became unsustainable, increasingly unsustainable as time went on.”
He added:
“One of the reasons that I left Fox was because I wanted to put all of that behind me. There has not
been a moment when I have second-guessed myself about that decision.”
A TV insider told the publication Chris Wallace is “irate” Jeff Zucker has resigned from CNN, according to a new report from Radar last month.
After his decision to leave Fox News, Wallace said in a statement “I am honored and delighted to join
Jeff Zucker and his great team.”Zucker had returned the praise, saying “it is not often that a news organization gets the opportunity
to bring someone of Chris Wallace’s caliber on board.”Wallace is set to host an interview program on CNN+ the embattled network’s digital streaming
service.Now, with Zucker gone, Wallace is “second-guessing his decision.”
“Chris is the type of person who makes it known if he doesn’t like something,” said the insider to
Radar.
“He went over there for Zucker and now Zucker is gone. Wallace feels that he has been stiffed. He’s
got no staff, no Executive Producer, and the guy he gave up a prized gig for has just walked out the
door,” he continued.“It’s no secret in DC that Wallace hates Jake Tapper and despises Sam Feist,” the source added.
“Zucker spun his magic to allay Chris’ concern about the pair, promising that his status as a ‘premiere
journalist’ would not be compromised while working out of the DC bureau.
Sources: Theconservativeopinion, The New York Times
Chris, having watched you a few times I must say you leaving Fox was no loss the the network. You appeared to bend in multiple directions based on which way the wind was blowing. Good Luck on CNN, you’ll need it….