Why have Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg quit Fox News?
STEPHEN Hayes and Jonah Goldberg have sensationally quit Fox News after over a decade on the air.
The conservative commentators said they found it “regrettably necessary” to resign in a statement on Sunday, November 21, 2021.
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Jonah Goldberg resigned from his position on Fox News on Sunday, November 21, 2021Credit: Getty
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Contributor Stephen Hayes also stepped down in the wake of Tucker Carlon’s controversial documentaryCredit: Rex
Why have Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg quit Fox News?
Both Hayes and Goldberg have stepped down from their roles as contributors as they believe “the voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible.”
In a post on their conservative online publication, The Dispatch, they revealed they have left the network in protest of prime-time host Tucker Carlson
The duo said Carlson’s bizarre three-part documentary on the Capitol riots, Patriot Purge, was publicizing a dangerous and distorted narrative.
As well as being “riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions,” they said the doc encouraged the debunked conspiracy theory that the FBI incited the deadly insurrection.
They explained they “felt we could no longer ‘do right as we see it’ and remain at Fox News” following the release of Patriot Purge.
Carlson’s creation was shared on Fox’s subscription streaming service, Fox Nation, as well as being promoted by the network.
Hayes and Goldberg said the documentary “creates an alternative history of January 6, contradicted not just by common sense, not just by the testimony and on-the-record statements of many participants, but by the reporting of the news division of Fox News itself.”
The series was slammed on social media as it suggests the violence that erupted on January 6, 2021, was led by left-wing activists rather than supporters of former president Donald Trump.
Who are they?
Stephen Hayes
Stephen Hayes is an American journalist and author from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
He graduated from DePauw University before studying at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The 51-year-old began his career as a political reporter for multiple US news outlets while lending himself as a commentator on CNN, The McLaughlin Group, MSNBC, CNSBC and C-Span.
The father of four began his stint at Fox News in early 2009.
He was a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, saying US intervention would be beneficial and show that the country “will not tolerate bullies, especially bullies with weapons of mass destruction.”
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In 2016, Hayes became the editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard, before the magazine was scrapped two years later.
He was an early critic of Donald Trump and admitted n a joint statement with Goldberg that their loyalty “to Fox has tested us many times over the past few years.”
Hayes went on to form the conservative media company, The Dispatch, alongside Goldberg and Toby Stock in 2019.
He now resides in Davidsonville, Maryland with his wife Carrie and their children.
Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg is an American columnist, author, political analyst and commentator from New York City.
While majoring in political science at Goucher College in Maryland, he became the co-editor of the school newspaper for two years.
After interning for a string of news organizations, the 52-year-old went on to create a stellar career in media.
Goldberg worked on a series of international television projects and US documentaries after bagging a job with New River Media in 1994.
The New York Times bestselling author then joined the National Review as a contributing editor in 1998, before launching its online publication and serving as the editor-at-large for several years.
He began his column, by the name of Goldberg File, and also frequently contributed to the National Review’s blog, The Corner, before leaving in May 2019.
As well as writing for numerous US publications, Goldberg co-founded The Dispatch in 2019 – which reportedly now boasts almost 30,000 paying subscribers.
During Trump’s time in office, Goldberg was a prominent critic of the former president and fellow Republicans.
He even earlier admitted Fox News had a tendency to “lean to the right, primarily in its opinion programming but also in its story selection”.
He shares a daughter with his wife Jessica Gavora, who is a chief speechwriter and former senior policy advisor to John Ashcroft.
The family now lives in Palisades, Washington D.C.
What has Tucker Carlson said on their Fox News resignations?
Controversial television host and political commentator Tucker Carlson told The New York Times that their resignation was “great news”.
He even added “our viewers will be grateful” when quizzed on their dramatic departure.
But Hayes and Goldberg aren’t the only influential figures to condemn Carlson’s documentary.
Fellow Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera said Patriot Purge made him worry “how much is done to provoke, rather than illuminate.”
Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney hit out at both Fox News for giving the presenter “a platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on January 6.”
