From a New York Times story by Michael M. Grynbaum headined “Fox News Host Sells Stake In Website He Co-Founded”:
The Fox News host Tucker Carlson has sold his stake in The Daily Caller, stepping away from the Washington-based conservative news and opinion site he co-founded in 2010 as an alternative to left-leaning outlets like The Huffington Post.
Mr. Carlson, one of the country’s most prominent conservative commentators, retained financial ties to The Daily Caller after taking up his prime-time role at Fox News in 2017. But he had yielded day-to-day oversight to his co-founder and college roommate, Neil Patel, the site’s publisher and a former chief policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. . . .
The Daily Caller was a pioneer in online conservative journalism, though its influence has faded in recent years as once-fringe sites like Breitbart News made inroads with right-wing audiences. Mr. Carlson, who began his career as a writer for magazines like The Weekly Standard and Esquire, had placed an emphasis on original reporting at The Daily Caller, and the site was granted entry to the coveted presidential press pool by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
A former host on CNN and MSNBC, Mr. Carlson has become a central star of Fox News, where his 8 p.m. show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” recently eclipsed “Hannity” as the top ratings draw among adults 25 to 54 years old, the most important age demographic in cable news. . . .
His program has proved to be a lightning rod for controversy, including in recent days, as Mr. Carlson has devoted his monologues to denouncing nationwide demonstrations against police brutality as violent riots led by “criminal mobs.”
On Monday, Mr. Carlson was sharply criticized after he said on-air that the widespread unrest “is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you.” Fox News later said Mr. Carlson’s use of the pronoun “they” referred to Democratic leaders and mayors, not protesters. . . .
“We will be a place committed to civil debate,” Mr. Patel wrote in an email. “Not enough people in our country are talking openly with those outside their bubbles. I sincerely want us to be a place where that happens.”
Several former Daily Caller reporters occupy prominent roles in Washington journalism, including the CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and David Martosko, who covered the White House for The Daily Mail of London.
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