A change of scenery is often good for the soul.
And possibly quite literally, in the case of television news broadcaster Doug McKelway.
Axios reported last week that McKelway has been tapped by the Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network to anchor its new program, “Centerpoint.”
The program is expected to cover the news of the day and other stories, presumably through a Christian, conservative lens. It will air weekdays at 7:30pm, with a rebroadcast later in the evening.
The fit may prove to be a comfortable one for McKelway, who retired from Fox News in September of 2020 with what the Washington Post called an “eyebrow-raising video.” The video, posted on his Facebook page, featured McKelway praising specific Fox News executives, including the late Roger Ailes, as well as offering advice for aspiring television news on-air talent.
“You make a deal with the devil when you work in television news,” McKelway said in the 2020 video. “You make a Faustian bargain. You got hired in part because of your looks, and that’s the Faustian bargain. Over time, you start to age. You don’t look as well as you did. And there’s another crop of young, good-looking, talented people who are making their own Faustian bargain.”
In the video, he then went on to share how Ailes, upon meeting McKelway, told him he was good looking but “no Megyn Kelly.”
“When that day comes for you to leave, a piece of advice….don’t leave embittered. Don’t leave feeling like a victim,” he said before taking a swig of what he said was Winston Churchill’s favorite champagne. “Leave with your head held high, and with graciousness. With grace.”
As McKelway becomes the face of “Centerpoint” for TBN, he joins producer Michael Clemente, former Newsmax CEO and Fox News EVP of News. TBN VP of Marketing, Nate Daniels, told Axios the network’s goal is to create a “Christian lifestyle brand,” rather than just a network known for “preaching and teaching.”
TBN was founded in 1973 and now spans 175 countries. In recent years, the network has moved further in the direction of news and political programming. They welcomed Former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, as a talk show host in 2017. Late last year, actor and Christian evangelist, Kirk Cameron, took the hosting reins of his own program, “Takeaways.” The network is also expected to launch a new program in May, featuring hosts Mike Rowe and Matt Crouch, the network’s President.
McKelway indeed has deep journalistic roots. His grandfather was the Editor of the Washington Star newspaper and President of the Associated Press. During a 2021 conversation about Big Tech censorship with Tony Perkins, McKelway referred to his grandfather as “a powerful defender of the First Amendment during the Cold War years.”
“He wrote that it’s incumbent upon publications, upon newspapers, and now of course moving into the digital age which did not exist back then, incumbent upon individual publishers to exercise their rights responsibly,” McKelway told Perkins last year. “And there’s a message in that for today’s digital age. A lot of these guys are not being responsible overseers of their technology. And algorithms won’t do it. Algorithms cannot have the kind of judgment that individual human beings who are morally grounded have. And that’s what seems to be lacking here.”
McKelways seems to be well-positioned for the move to TBN. Morality and responsibility, two strongly-rooted themes of Christianity.
Logistically, the move should provide additional comfort for McKelway. He reunites with producer Clemente, whom McKelway, in his aforementioned retirement video, thanked for helping him get hired at Fox News back in 2010.
McKelway, who also spent time as a correspondent for the Washington Examiner, has publicly chided the current Administration, tweeting on March 10th that “a statement from this Biden Administration should not be taken at face value, nor as the gospel truth.” In an April, 2021 piece for the Examiner, he detailed “A Dangerous World: Biden Foreign Policy.” In the video piece – well before the United States’ horrendous withdrawal from Afghanistan and today’s current list of world crises – McKelway foreshadowed how Biden’s approach could lead to destructive consequences.
He also drew the ire of many in the mainstream media for leaked emails from his time at Fox News, when he defended President Trump. However, many polls estimate the former President garnering roughly 80% support among the Evangelical community.
McKelway’s Twitter profile reads,” Blissfully retired. I speak for no one but myself.”
In the days to come, he will speak to, and perhaps for, many Christian viewers as TBN expands its programming offerings.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
