Thread by @MattGertz

There was a lot of news on my beat while I've been on parental leave, I think I'll do some mini-takes.

Tucker Carlson's Jan. 6 special was particularly worrisome because it shows not only because he's basically in Infowars territory, but that Fox is willing to take the hit to let him do it.

In the wake of Carlson's Patriot Purge, Fox lost Stephen Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Chris Wallace -- each with more than a decade at the network. And that's after Carlson antics led to Shep Smith leaving the network a few years back. Fox brass prioritizes keeping Tucker happy.

For years, Fox highlighted the work of Shep Smith, Chris Wallace, and Bret Baier as evidence it was a real news network. The first two are gone; the third must really, really love money.

Here's the trajectory of Fox's 7 p.m. hour.

1999-2013: Shep Smith
2013-2016: Greta van Susteren
2017-2020: Martha MacCallum
2020: Rotating right-wing hosts
2021: Jesse Watters

Fox's "news" division has been totally routed.

For years, reporters have asked me if Fox hosts really believe what they say. I generally tell them what matters is what the hosts say, not whether they believe it.

But the Kilmeade/Ingraham/Hannity texts provide strong evidence that at least sometimes they are lying.

Among other things, Hannity's Jan. 6 tests suggest that Fox really really needs to settle the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits before discovery, it seems pretty plausible that he's texted something that would reveal actual malice.

**clears throat**

More like Lara LOLgan.

The Ben Smith move seems like grist for theory that the destruction of print advertising has turned the news into more and more of a luxury product geared toward a smaller, dispersed, wealthy audience that can make up for that lost revenue.

That's it for now I think.