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Host Chris Wallace is leaving Fox News for CNN
Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP
The prominent US presenter Chris Wallace is leaving Fox News, which is controversial because of its proximity to former US President Donald Trump, and joins the competition from CNN. "I'm ready for a new adventure," said the 74-year-old surprisingly on Sunday at the end of his weekly program "Fox News Sunday". CNN said Wallace will be the presenter on the planned streaming service CNN +, which will go on air in the first quarter of next year.
Wallace was respected as independent despite serving at Fox News. Trump and his supporters repeatedly attacked the moderator because, from their point of view, he reported too critically. Trump then accused Wallace of being "controlled by the radical left." Wallace moderated the first TV duel between Trump and today's US President Joe Biden last September, which was sometimes extremely chaotic. Wallace was later frustrated: “I'm a professional. I've never been through anything like this, ”he said. His new employer, CNN, is clearly critical of Trump in the polarized US media world.
Wallace has interviewed every incumbent US president since George HW Bush and interviewed numerous foreign heads of state, including Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron. In 2016 he became the first Fox journalist to host a television duel between US presidential candidates. At that time, the future election winner Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton faced each other.
Wallace said on Sunday, “Eighteen years ago the bosses at Fox promised me that they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked.
And they kept that promise.
I was free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I consider important. ”In his own words, the moderation on Sunday was Wallace's last appearance on“ Fox News Sunday ”.
jso / dpa / AFP