Fox News Media abruptly cancelled (a.k.a. fired) Fox Business’ top rated show host Lou Dobbs, a major Donald Trump media supporter who consistently insisted Trump won the election and that they election was rigged. Is Fox News’ explanation a believable one?
The Los Angeles Times broke the story:
Fox News Media has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” the program hosted by television’s staunchest supporter of Donald Trump and of his assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 election, The Times has learned.
Dobbs’ program, which airs twice nightly at 5 and 7 p.m. Eastern on the Fox Business Network, will have its final airing Friday, according to a Fox News representative who confirmed the cancellation. Starting next week, the program will be called “Fox Business Tonight,” with rotating substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman, who filled in for Dobbs on Friday.
Dobbs, 75, remains under contract at Fox News but he will in all likelihood not appear on the company’s networks again. In addition to his Fox Business Network program, he occasionally turned up on the Fox News Channel as a commentator.
He basically has a “pay or play” contract, which means until his contract runs out he can’t appear anywhere else and compete with Fox.
But the timing of the firing was suspect: it came after Dobbs and Fox News were hit but a massive lawsuit that many legal experts say could succeed:
The cancellation comes a day after voting software company Smartmatic filed a $2.7-billion defamation suit against Fox News and three of its hosts — Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. The company claims the hosts perpetuated lies and disinformation about Smartmatic’s role in the election, damaging its business and reputation.’
The company’s explanation for suddenly axing the show?
But people familiar with discussions say the decision to end Dobbs’ program was under consideration before the legal issues with Smartmatic arose. (Fox News said it stands by its 2020 election coverage and will “defend this meritless lawsuit in court.”)“As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business,” the representative said in a statement. “This is part of those planned changes. A new 5 p.m. program will be announced in the near future.”
Yes, networks do shuffle around or eliminate some programming and hosts. But this certainly sounds as if a big, fat, lawsuit has something to do with it.
Some reaction:
If this is, as the LAT story hints, about branding and a desire to attract more moderate viewers, then it makes no sense to take Dobbs off the air but leave other conspiracy mongers. If it’s about the lawsuit, as all the reports suggest, then it makes no sense to keep other named defendants on the air or even elevate their roles. If it’s that, despite being the highest-rated show of its kind, they’re losing money on it because advertisers aren’t willing to be associated with it, it makes sense. But, then, I don’t know why advertisers would be more willing to associate with other hosts peddling the same theories.
During the Trump presidency, Dobbs was a loyal sycophant, and since November, he has frequently backed up the president’s outlandish claims that the election was “rigged” and stolen from him. According to Smartmatic’s suit, Dobbs not only interviewed guests who would spread lies about the election like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, but he also “took the initiative and contributed additional falsehoods to the narrative.” The suit also quotes Dobbs as using the words “cyber Pearl Harbor” to describe the alleged election conspiracy.
I'm still giddy from Lou Dobbs getting fired! https://t.co/GTGqZU27Cg
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) February 6, 2021
'Fox News is in a race with itself to the bottom': Lou Dobbs retweets fans attacking the network after show was canceled https://t.co/AAwSrPNiAU
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 6, 2021
Fox cancelled their most popular host because he was lying to America about voting machines and the voting machine companies sued Fox for billions. Fox is isn’t canning him because he’s a liar (they knew that) They’re canning him because there’s money invoked. Liars love money.
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) February 6, 2021
Seventeen days earlier, and Lou Dobbs might have scored a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 6, 2021
John Kelly once told me that he learned to watch Lou Dobbs to understand what the president might think or say about a topic. https://t.co/jRFOVbbK31
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 6, 2021
Whenever I’m having a tough day, I will think about yesterday, when Lou Dobbs had a much worse day, and it will make everything seem a bit better.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 6, 2021
Fox news canceled Lou Dobbs just one day after a voting machine company sued for $2.7 billion https://t.co/9siZufkAFQ
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) February 6, 2021
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.