Carlson’s non-firing firing is descending into bafflegab. This from the NYT:
CNN has ended its relationship with the conservative commentator Tucker
Carlson and will shortly cancel its long-running daily political
discussion program, "Crossfire," the new president of CNN, Jonathan
Klein, said last night.Mr. Carlson said he had actually quit "Crossfire" last April and had
agreed to stay on until his contract expired. He said he had a deal in
place for a job as the host of a 9 p.m. nightly talk program on MSNBC,
CNN’s rival.
One NBC News executive said that no deal had been completed between
MSNBC and Mr. Carlson. "Tucker is a great journalist and we are
exploring options with him for a 9 p.m. job," said Jeremy Gaines, a
spokesman for MSNBC.
Apparently, not only did we learn in kindergarten everything we need to know about life, we also learned how important it is to ‘break up’ first.
Interestingly, Klein has tied CNN’s shift in programming to the Jon Stewart episode:
Mr. Klein specifically cited the criticism that the comedian Jon
Stewart leveled at "Crossfire" when he was a guest on the program
during the presidential campaign. Mr. Stewart said that ranting
partisan political shows on cable were "hurting America."
Mr.
Klein said last night, "I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart’s
overall premise." He said he believed that especially after the terror
attacks on 9/11, viewers are interested in information, not opinion.
So perhaps Stewart did kill Crossfire after all …..
One can’t help wondering what will fill the void now that CNN is evacuating whatever small portion of the center (is there such a thing?) of US political commentary it occupied.