Fox News may be Trump’s preferred choice in cable news, but it looking more and more like the conservative network is shying away from its president-appeasing programming.
This has been a rumored change that will be initiated once Lachlan Murdoch, son of the Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, takes over as chairman and CEO of the network once its sale to Disney goes through. (RELATED: Lachlan Murdoch To Be New Chairman and CEO Of New Fox.) Murdoch will continue serving as co-chairman of the network.
Lachlan is close to his father politically, but has said he doesn’t want Fox to be considered “state TV.”
That might explain the following report that Sebastian Gorka, a former White House official, has received a soft ban from Fox News. What’s a soft ban, you might ask? It’s a prohibition on an individual appearing on “hard news” shows. So while “Hannity” and the “Ingraham Angle” are quasi-news shows with an opinionated twist, a show like “Special Report with Bret Baier” is objective news, unless otherwise noted.
The Daily Beast reports:
Fox News’ “hard news” shows—which fall under the network’s news division and pride themselves on being at least somewhat distinct from Fox’s pro-Trump agitprop apparatus—want nothing to do with former White House official Sebastian Gorka, multiple sources at Fox News told The Daily Beast.
One knowledgeable Fox News staffer described the situation as effectively a “soft ban” on Gorka, the controversial, firebrand ex-aide to President Donald Trump and former national security adviser to Steve Bannon.
Fox News’ “hard news” shows—which pride themselves on being at least somewhat distinct from Fox’s pro-Trump agitprop apparatus—want nothing to do with former White House official Sebastian Gorka, multiple sources told The Daily Beast https://t.co/4dCri31gmj
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 6, 2018
This makes sense. While Gorka was a bulldog for Trump, going on cable TV shows and vehemently promoting his America First agenda, he’s not considered a policy expert. In fact, it’s never been exactly clear why Gorka worked in the White House, to begin with. I recall that Trump once offhandedly mentioned that he loved watching Gorka on TV but had no idea what he did at the West Wing all day.
Strangely enough, the Hungarian police actually have an arrest warrant out for Gorka. (RELATED: Hungarian Police Have Arrest Warrant Out for Sebastian Gorka.) The poor Magyar can’t return to his ancestral homeland!
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Fox’s soft ban on Gorka likely extends from the confusion regarding his real expertise in regards to foreign policy and counter-terrorism. Regardless, Gorka is still a regular on Sean Hannity’s show, along with a slew of other Fox personalities. So I don’t think he’s taking much offense to the soft ban in the end.
