Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon ousted from cable news

It was a huge shake up in the cable news industry this week. On Monday, FOX News Channel announced that longtime host Tucker Carlson is no longer with the network. And just hours later, CNN parted ways with one of its veteran personalities, Don Lemon.

Bill Goodykoontz, who covers media for the Arizona Republic and AZCentral.com, joined Arizona Horizon host Ted Simons to discuss the latest media news.

“I think it came as a surprise. Evidently, it came as a big surprise to Tucker Carlson,” Goodykoontz said.

Carlson spent 14 years at FOX. Before that, he worked at MSNBC and CNN. His last show was Friday, April 21.

His departure came days after FOX News agreed to an 11th-hour settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million in a defamation case.

“I don’t think that even Rupert Murdoch could muzzle him [Carlson] except for this one way,” Goodykoontz said. “Now, that said, this is a pretty effective way.”

Goodykoontz said Carlson is one of the most popular people on TV. “It’ll be really interesting to see what it does to the ratings,” he said.

“Fox News Tonight” will air in Carlson’s former time slot starting on Monday, but it’s unclear what will happen long term.

Meantime, Don Lemon, who spent 17 years at CNN, learned of his dimissal.

“I am stunned,” Lemon posted on his Twitter account.

“It used to be that the only unforgivable sin in TV was bad ratings,” Goodykoontz said. “Don Lemon got moved to the morning from primetime to the morning show about six months ago, in November, and the ratings were dismal.”

Goodykoontz said he does not know what’s next for Lemon.