Just how petty can a multi-billion dollar news titan be?
According to some, they can be just as petty as a scorned lover gleefully changing their relationship status — and that is a shockingly mild exaggeration in this instance.
For anyone who’s been paying any attention to what a post-Tucker Carlson landscape would look like at Fox News, two things are pretty apparent:
- That landscape is pretty barren. The suddenly-beleaguered news network has lost so many viewers, its stock was downgraded.
- Fox News is trying anything — or perhaps flailing about — in response to hemorrhaging viewers, including some shakeups to its primetime lineup.
Well, just like a jilted ex, Fox News isn’t just content with its new partner(s), it needs to let the world know that they have unequivocally, fully and wholeheartedly moved on with their lives.
According to AdAge, Fox News adopted the slogan “Standing Up For What’s Right” in November 2020, amid former President Donald Trump’s growing issues with the network’s coverage leading up to and through the general election.
So, in a way, “Standing Up For What’s Right” was a not-so-subtle response to the end of the network’s pro-Trump era.
“The Right Voices At The Right Time” then, could be viewed as the network’s battle cry as it drags its feet into the post-Carlson era.
Fox News unveiled that new tagline in promotional material touting its new prime-time lineup, which actually begins Monday:
Fox News Channel’s blockbuster new primetime lineup kicks off tonight at 7pm. pic.twitter.com/W8H8fVhS5N
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2023
That change to the network’s slogan caught the eye of people on social media — and many thought it was a dig at Carlson.
“In Fox’s attempt to hype its ‘new’ primetime lineup (it’s not new, just a shuffle) they’ve changed their slogan from ‘Standing Up for What’s Right’ to ‘The Right Voices at the Right Time,’ a subtle dig at @TuckerCarlson,” Chadwick Moore, editor at The Spectator, tweeted out.
Moore added that the slogan tweak was “a telling reminder of the company’s editorial mission — Tucker was not the ‘right voice’ in their purview.”
Now, it does need to be pointed out that Moore is also Carlson’s biographer, so he’s not exactly unbiased here.
But it’s also inarguable — again — that Fox News is trying to scrub anything and everything related to Carlson away.
Most recently, a shameful report began circulating that Fox News was going to ban any senator who may have voiced support for Carlson during his divorce from the news titan.
Before that, other reports surfaced that the news network wants to systematically dismantle anything that connected Carlson to the network.
Will you be tuning into Fox News for the new prime time?
Yes: 17% (4 Votes)
No: 83% (20 Votes)
Amid Carlson’s firing, the network also reportedly sought to eliminate any lingering Carlson allies, a move called “shockingly callous” by sources at the time.
One word to describe all that behavior? Petty.
So yes, it is very believable that Fox News would change its slogan to make sure the world knows that it has moved on and that Carlson was never the “right” one for them.
But even if they didn’t specifically change the slogan to needle Carlson, it’s pretty evident from everything else that the suffering news network clearly has just one man on its mind.
