This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the media newsletter that pulls back the curtain to reveal what’s really going on inside the world’s most powerful navel-gazing industry. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
Chris Wallace poured a bucket of verbal manure over Fox News on Sunday, describing the latter stage of his tenure at the top-rated cable network as “increasingly unsustainable,” but people inside Rupert Murdoch’s empire were nonplussed.
In their view, they’re saving $9 million a year, which is what Wallace is now getting to appear on CNN+, according to two people familiar with the situation. Now, Confider has learned that ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, who has long yearned to host a Sunday show, had talks with Fox News execs about replacing Wallace on Fox News Sunday but ultimately passed.
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Bret Baier and John Roberts are among those who have filled in since Wallace departed in December, with a decision on a permanent replacement still pending.
“We had very informal conversations with Jonathan Karl as we routinely have with many talent across all media—offers are never extended in these discussions, therefore nothing was declined,” a Fox News spokesperson emailed Confider. Karl and a rep for CNN+ did not respond to a request for comment.
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