Longtime Fox News Host Announces Departure From Current Network

The legacy media racket isn’t what it used to be.

That’s the conclusion reached by longtime Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, who announced on Tuesday he will be departing CNN after committing three years to the sagging network. Instead, Wallace, 77, thinks his future will be in the brave new world of podcasting. Many of the industry’s biggest stars grew even brighter during the presidential election when both Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump participated in high-profile podcast interviews. That’s “where the action seems to be,” Wallace told the Daily Beast.

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“This is the first time in 55 years I‘ve been between jobs,” he said in an interview. “I am actually excited and liberated by that.” He pointed to some of podcasting’s biggest names like Joe Rogan and Charlamagne Tha God and cited their seemingly daily ability to influence the national discourse on current events, but added, “I don’t flatter myself to think I will have that sort of reach.” Still, after three years at CNN and 20 at Fox News, Wallace is a veteran journalist whose skills will serve him well in any new opportunity. “Not knowing is part of the challenge. I‘m waiting to see what comes over the transom. It might be something that I haven’t thought of at all,” he said.

CNN reportedly fought to keep Wallace but their offer to extend his contract was rebuffed, a sign of the waning influence of the network. Its election night coverage saw a 44% decline compared to 2020, Newsweek reported, and 62% fewer viewers compared to 2016. The flagging numbers come after the network has shed hundreds of jobs, shuttered swaths of its departments, revamped its weekend schedule, and frozen the seven-figure salaries of its top on-air talent. CEO Mark Thompson said in May that the perennially sagging ratings are a holdover effect as CNN transitions away from traditional news and directs more of its focus to pop culture topics.

Asked about his decision to walk away before contract negotiations began, Wallace said, “I have nothing but positive things to say. CNN has been very good to me.”

“Chris Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming,” Thompson said in a statement to the New York Post. “We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for the future.”

Wallace has never been a barnburner on the right or the left, a trait that he believes will serve him well in the world of podcasting. Some of the industry’s biggest stars have their own opinions but generally allow their guests to present their own beliefs in long-form listening, something that cable news inherently can’t afford to do. Being a partisan is “just absent from my DNA,” Wallace stated. His final episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” will be this Friday while his Saturday program “The Chris Wallace Show” will continue through the end of the year.

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