FOX News Media, the corporate parent of Fox News Channel and Fox Business, shocked viewers when it revealed on Thursday, September 3, that it had cut ties with beloved anchor Maria Bartiromo, known for her generally conservative and generally pro-MAGA views, and for being a favorite of President Donald Trump and his staunch supporters.
Adding yet further to the shock was that neither network nor the corporate overlords gave much of an indication of what happened that led to it suddenly deep-sixing a well-liked host with good ratings who had been with it for over 12 years and won the approval of a sitting, popular president, along with his base, the very sort of thing that a media company would theoretically want.
Instead, all it said was, “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media.” Continuing, the network added, not giving anything of note away as it did so, “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.” For reference, Bartiromo appeared last on Fox Business Network on August 7, and her last appearance on Fox News came on August 9.
Now, new details about what happened have started to emerge, and they don’t look great for FOX News Media. Founding Partner and Senior Correspondent at Puck, Dylan Byers, known for his generally accurate reporting on what is going on in the media world, shared some of those details in a post about the matter on X.
Beginning, Byers revealed that the Bartiromo story had to do with the 2020 election, saying, “NEW: The Maria Bartiromo backstory, per multiple sources familiar…. Maria Bartiromo wanted to pursue a story related to China and 2020 election voting conspiracies… a major sensitivity for the network given its Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits.”
Continuing, he alleged that Fox Business shut down the story, and Bartiromo informed the White House, saying, “A Fox Business executive sent a text to Fox Business producers informing them that that story could not go to air. Bartiromo took a screen shot of the guidance and sent it to senior White House officials.”
That led to Fox Business freaking out and firing her, Byers claimed, saying, “Fox News leadership learned about that after receiving a call from the White House, which they viewed as a fireable offense. Fox pulled Bartiromo from air after Aug. 9. She was fired today. I have also learned that her executive producer Patrick Ignozzi was also fired after the annoucnement. Maria had resigned her contract with Fox last February.”
"*" indicates required fields
Then, in a follow up post included as a comment on the original and which came just under an hour later, Byers said, “MORE: Maria Bartiromo has hired famed lawyer Bryan Freedman … *and: she was fired shortly after last appearance on August 9, though network announced news today.”
Conservatives reacted with fury and outrage to the news. Matthew Peterson, for instance, wrote, “At least half of the 343 million citizens of the most powerful nation on earth don’t have a single large actual right of center media company to serve them news or entertainment. Internalize that.” “I don’t know how anyone can watch Fox News anymore,” said another poster.