“I just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox.”
That was the basic reason, in his own words, that longtime newsman Chris Wallace decided to call it quits after nearly two decades in the anchor chair at Fox News, as told to the New York Times.
Wallace said that, for him, the line in the sand was drawn when some of the personalities who shared the channel with him began eschewing certain cold, hard facts that they may have found uncomfortable, particularly the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election and the events in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.
He called the network’s attempt to sow doubt in both of those historical events “unsustainable.”
“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” Wallace said. “But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”
Especially troubling to Wallace was when fellow anchor Tucker Carlson began to suggest that the riot at the Capitol was a “false flag” operation executed by the left intended to frame Trump supporters and other conservatives, a theory that has not been supported by any actual evidence.
“Some people might have drawn the line earlier, or at a different point,” Wallace said. “I think Fox has changed over the course of the last year and a half. But I can certainly understand where somebody would say, ‘Gee, you were a slow learner, Chris.’”
With his departure from the network he had served as the main moderate voice for since 2003, Wallace now makes the move to CNN+, the streaming platform launched by CNN, where he will host a new interview program.
“Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” premieres Tuesday on the streaming platform. Early episodes will feature former Disney head Bob Iger and actor William Shatner.
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