OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Fox News host, and current CNN host, Chris Wallace showed the type of person he is when he took a swipe at his own dad, the late Mike Wallace, for bias in the media.
The host appeared on the HBO show “Real Time” hosted by Bill Maher, where he said that the polarization of the media started with his dad and the show he was on, “60 Minutes.”
“CBS and ABC and the other owners of the media viewed the news as a public service…I gotta be careful with this because I know you are a huge fan of ‘60 Minutes’ but I kind of feel to a certain degree 60 Minutes and my father are responsible for what happened,” he said.
“60 Minutes made money and suddenly the executives said, ‘you can make money with news and that led to more biased news coverage. 60 Minutes opened Pandora’s box where you can make money from news,” he said.
“They don’t want to make people turn the dial the wrong way – except on this show. I’ve paid for that,” the “Real Time” host responded.
“There are lots of woke people who used to watch that don’t anymore.
“It’s just that the left went crazy, so I have to do it more,” he said.
Deadline reported.
Wallace traced the problem back to the golden days of three major channels and the world tuning in at 6:30 PM to hear about the world from Walter Cronkite or Huntley-Brinkley.
Those programs drew audiences of as much as 29 million, but they weren’t profit centers. But the men who ran the networks at the time saw news as a public service, and if it didn’t lose an enormous amount of money, they were fine with that.
But when Chris Wallace’s father, Mike Wallace, and his 60 Minutes team started in 1968, things shifted. That show began making money, “and suddenly, the executives in television said, ‘You can make money from this.’” That’s when they “started chasing an audience.
Wallace would not commit to answering why he left Fox News during the interview.
The interview came on Friday as Wallace was promoting his show on CNN/HBO Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” Mediaite reported.
BILL MAHER: You left Fox News.
CHRIS WALLACE: But if on Fox News Sunday I told straight and they and they never second guessed me on a on a guest or a question, they let me do what I did and and I’m doing the same now.
BILL MAHER: I always thought you were the canary in the coal mine at Fox.
CHRIS WALLACE: I want to see how this metaphor ends up. Well.
BILL MAHER: Ah. Well, the canary gets out, the mine collapses. That’s. That’s my (laughs) No, I mean, you got out. I mean, it became a come on. Isn’t that why you left? Because it just became too hard to be in that loony bin?
CHRIS WALLACE: You know, I am so excited about Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, about CNN, about looking ahead to the future.
BILL MAHER: You just said you’re a big straight shooter, but you won’t answer that question, about Fox?
CHRIS WALLACE: You know, I have found message discipline. I know you’re going to be talking to Chris Christie in a moment. Message discipline–
BILL MAHER: That’s for politicians, not for us. We’re the other side, we’e the other team.
CHRIS WALLACE: Yeah.
BILL MAHER: All right, I’ll ask — We’ll talk it over in the commissary, too.
CHRIS WALLACE: Actually, I was thinking Mitch McConnell, just repeat the line over and over again.
BILL MAHER: So last question.
CHRIS WALLACE: We’re done?
BILL MAHER: Yeah, almost.
CHRIS WALLACE: I’m having a good time.
BILL MAHER: I’m having a good time too. It goes fast when you avoid questions.
CHRIS WALLACE: Well played.
The show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” debuted on Sunday for CNN and the Nielsen ratings show that not many people tuned in, The Washington Examiner reported.
“The ratings show that there were 401,000 viewers, down 29% from the average, and 44,000 among those aged 25 to 54, down 64% from the average,” the report said.
By contrast, his competition on Fox News “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy,” garnered 1.3 million viewers and 78,000 in the 25 – 54 demographic.
