Former Fox News colleagues Tucker Carlson and Clayton Morris offered a blunt critique of cable news, warning that the medium is in steep decline while fueling dangerous narratives for profit. During a conversation on Carlson’s show, the pair expressed concern over the industry’s future.
Morris, who left television in 2017, said cable networks have returned to a familiar playbook of promoting conflict. “It’s almost like they went to their shelf, dusted off the manual, and started lining up every show with the same rhetoric,” Morris said. He described how networks stoke fear by showcasing military targets and hyping threats, reminiscent of coverage leading up to the Iraq War.
Carlson echoed the sentiment, arguing that cable news no longer provides genuine journalism. “Where is the journalism? I don’t understand it,” Carlson said, adding that he was “enraged” watching recent coverage that he believes glorified military action and framed dissent as unpatriotic. He also criticized the industry’s reliance on an aging audience, noting, “That audience is not getting any younger… I don’t know anybody watching right now who’s buying a cable box.”
Both hosts agreed that traditional cable news faces an uncertain future as younger audiences migrate to streaming platforms. “Those massive salaries and everyone living large off of cable subscriptions—I think that era is gone,” Morris concluded. Carlson added, “The idea that people are going to pay for a cable subscription in order to get their CNN or Sean Hannity—that’s dying.”
They also expressed frustration over a perceived lack of intellectual curiosity on cable news. Carlson argued that asking critical questions is often portrayed as disloyalty. “It’s incurious. We can’t ask questions, and if you ask questions, that’s an endorsement of that position,” he said. Carlson and Morris believe the media environment has contributed to a culture where alternative viewpoints are marginalized.
In closing, the conversation pointed to the growing appeal of independent media. Both Carlson and Morris urged viewers to seek out platforms that prioritize transparency over profit. As Morris put it, “It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens to the cable news landscape in the next few years.”
