Had to revive this thread, as something brought Stirewalt to my mind. As I've mentioned, I worked with him when he was barely out of college (his third college, but who's counting), and he was just an
awful news reporter and writer (my editor assigned me to to rewrite, correct and try to make some sense of his pieces). But he was a silver spoon schmoozer, and that's how he somehow ended up at FOX. Did a little googling and found this:
Ex-Fox News Editor Recalls ‘Humiliation’ of Being Fired Over Election Night
‘VERY CHALLENGING’ - A new documentary traces the transformation of Fox News into a Trump propaganda outlet, featuring commentary from former stars like Chris Stirewalt and Gretchen Carlson.
Justin Baragona, Media Reporter
Updated Aug. 23, 2021 6:09PM ET
Former Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt recounted the “terrible feeling of humiliation” over getting fired by the network after he defended the Fox News decision desk’s early but accurate election night call for President Joe Biden to win Arizona, adding that it was “very challenging” to tell his kids he was suddenly kicked to the curb.
Stirewalt was among several former Fox News employees to speak with Australia’s ABC TV for a multi-episode documentary about Fox’s evolution into a propaganda outlet for former President Donald Trump. In part one, which first aired Monday, a number of Fox insiders, including Stirewalt, linked the fall of disgraced Fox News CEO Roger Ailes to the rise of Trump on Fox.
Suggesting that Ailes was the only one who could rein in the network’s top stars and enforce a consistent code of on-air conduct, Stirewalt said that once Ailes was fired over multiple sexual misconduct allegations in the summer of 2016, the network quickly went full-tilt for Trump.
“Trump was a dangerous entity, and no one could control him,” he said. “The company went through a rebranding several months later. And we were stunned to see that the phrase ‘Fair and Balanced,’ which had been our core, had been removed.” ...
Asked by ABC TV host Sarah Ferguson if any superior asked him to change the projection after the fact, Stirewalt said the decision desk “received no instruction to reverse the call” but did say “there was a lot of questions” over whether they were sure they made an accurate call.
“Wasn't there an executive who said that you should stop making calls?” Ferguson followed up.
“I'm not gonna talk about that stuff,” Stirewalt curtly replied. ...
Daily BeastLooks like he landed on his feet with The Dispatch, a Jonah Goldberg production. Wow, do they ever deserve one another.
What's that word? Schadenfreude? Yes, that's the one.
