Fox taps Tucker Carlson to replace Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly was almost brought to tears as she announced her departure from Fox News on Tuesday night’s The Kelly File.

Fox has selected the replacement for Megyn Kelly.

What are your thoughts on the news pro’s career move?

Carlson will begin hosting the 9 p.m. hour on Monday, January 9. But it does mean that the incoming president is likely to hear more cheering in prime time. She called Carlson a “partisan hack”, while he dismissively suggested she write about fashion instead of politics.

She became expressive as she talked about her three children.

“I really had to choose – am I going to be an honest journalist. or am I going to suck up to Trump?” she told the AP.

The Fox News Channel audience is not part of America’s national diversity chorus, anyway.

Carlson’s show, which debuted in the 7 p.m. slot in November rose to the No. 2 cable news program in the Adults 25-54 demographic in December, behind just The O’Reilly Factor. Ailes has denied any untoward advances involving Kelly. And of course, in a flawless world, there’d be nothing stopping her from overtaking male counterparts like Matt Lauer, who gets a $25 million salary for hosting Today, also on NBC.

“NBC News is in the news tonight”, said Lester Holt about 23 minutes into Tuesday’s Nightly News.

For a network that saw its iconic creator and chairman, Roger Ailes, resign amid a sexual harassment scandal last July, moving on swiftly from Kelly’s announcement was vintage Fox. Owned by 21st Century Fox, FNC is available in more than 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre. It wasn’t a critical or commercial success, however.

But with Kelly’s departure and Carlson’s addition, the lineup is now entirely men, although Martha MacCallum will take over Carlson’s old slot leading into the peak viewership hours at 7 p.m.

Others at Fox widely considered to be in contention for Kelly’s slot include Martha McCallum, Sandra Smith, Shannon Bream and Kimberly Guilfoyle.