Tucker Carlson has joined the exclusive fraternity of media personalities terminated from the spotlight over corporate financial considerations and the adherence to ratings.
In unrelated news, polarizing CNN figurehead Don Lemon was also recently sentenced to Moldavian reeducation forced labor camp, the proliferation of “dark” money flowing like a fetid tributary of raw sewage flowing into the fortified complex housing media refugees and ruled under the iron clad fist of the real life iteration of warden Samuel Norton.
The timing of the two notable breakups is not simply a coincidence, but evidence that the political parties are gearing up of the monumental and critical 2024 elections.
While escape is unlikely for the two broadcasters now facing relevancy purgatory, the Chinese reverse engineered drones and high definition facial recognition cameras are plagued by the obligatory bugs afflicting knock-off products purchased by pennies on the Bitcoin amid the crowded sidewalks of Nathan Road with the skyscrapers of the Chinese side of Hong Kong looming from across the shimmering harbor. Perhaps Beijing is already firmly intertwined into the US and European corporatized press, as the espionage arm of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) administers the extra strength coercion and TikTok, and floods Wikipedia with ideology and mistruths which overwhelms domain custodians in providing needed acts of fact checking from the incessant revisionism.
Society has finally reached a dubious impasse. The cancellation of an iconic media professional, a career forged by reinvention and Costco pallets of camera masculine face blush camouflaging the intrepid inner-office politics of a newsroom crew enjoying rounds of early dawn hour libations at the Korova Milkbar, the underlying hedonistic orgiastic vibes oblivious and numb to the resounding haze, has literally gone viral. And the Hanoi Jane’s and Joy Behar’s of the globe wallow in the subterfuge of perceived facts fueling the cash cow world view of misandrists strategically pitched to suburban dog moms.
Carlson, who has not once but thrice retooled a career and appearing on MSNBC and CNN before becoming the Fox News headliner, will now attempt to reinvent himself on the plethora of digital streaming services, and Lemon is purported to join the California reparations lobby with the intellectually dishonest slogan that “African Americans are incapable of racism”. While the initial reaction to Carlson’s firing is surrounded by negative connotations, the axing may actually be a blessing in disguise, as cable news audiences are dominated by baby boomers and generation xer’s, as the young demographics are oblivious to traditional television. The youth movement receives the majority of data through abbreviated snippets emanating from the softscreen with heads buried like a defiant Ostrich. As social media is recognized by the naive and stupid as a legitimate news source and AI replaces flesh and blood reporters, the 25 year outlook is bleak.
With the presidential election a less than two years away, the window is manageable for Carlson to rebrand his image, while at the same time, attracting a portion of his core audience to subscribe to streaming platforms. Lemon will find a much more arduous pathway to sustained success, as professional conjurers of hate typically do not sustain an audience once they are removed from primetime.
The stunning announcement by Fox executives, represents a declaration that already moderated content by the standards of cable news, will transform into informational features avoiding controversy and catering to a more diverse audience. During the dizzying heights of Carlson’s ratings dominance, the staggering numbers reflected the fact that not only did he resonate with Republicans, but surprisingly he tested equally well with hardline Democrats and Progressives, who watched with vested interest and disgust in an example of gawkers staring in transfixed glare at horrific freeway vehicle wreck. This is known as the “Howard Stern” phenomenon, as the majority of the shock jock’s listeners during his radio ascension to fame actually despised his rhetoric and tuned-in to exercise their two minutes of daily hate.
While Fox News now pivots to a platoon lineup of rotating grade B hosts in various timeslots, the era of galactic-sized personalities of the O’Reilly’s and Carlson’s is officially over and the a la-carte approach in presenting issues and controversies is the new strategy to echo the customization and flexibility offered by the streaming vendor of the information age. While the audience has always been offered the choice of the on or off button, the landscape of contemporary has been changed forever as the collective has become the gatekeeper.