The stunning news today, that Maria Bartiromo was fired by Fox News after 12 years.
Now the reasons are coming out, and they are doozies. The best explanations come in the Los Angeles Times and Status newsletters.
They say that Bartiromo became so unhinged helping Trump prove voting fraud in the 2020 election that she stopped thinking as a journalist and became his advocate.
The LA Times’ Stephen Battaglio writes:
“Bartiromo was one of the network’s staunchest believers in Trump’s false accusations of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. The claims, many of them perpetuated on Bartiromo’s Sunday program, resulted in Fox News paying a $787.5-million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems, which sued the network for defamation.
“Bartiromo is also named in a $2.7-billion defamation suit filed by voting equipment company Smartmatic. Smartmatic is arguing that Fox News’ airing of the false statements about voter fraud hurt the London-based company’s ability to expand its business in the U.S. Barring a settlement, the case is expected to go to trial.
Status tells this story:
“The day after Trump’s prime time address, Fox conspicuously avoided covering the debunked claims the president had pushed. The lack of coverage raised eyebrows among media observers at the time. It also appears to have caught the attention of the White House.
“It’s unclear whether Trump or someone at the White House inquired with Bartiromo about the lack of coverage. But ultimately Bartiromo spilled the secret, Status has learned, divulging to the White House that Trump’s speech had received scant coverage on the channel because network bosses had ordered it so. I’m even told the text message in which Fox Business brass offered their guidance was shared by Bartiromo with the White House. In doing so, Bartiromo not only effectively betrayed her employer, but also disclosed confidential company information, violating the terms of her employment agreement.”
Is Maria done with journalism? No. But she won’t be with a news organization. She does have the money to launch a video Substack or YouTube channel, however. Her husband, Jonathan Steinberg, could put that together in an afternoon.
Meantime, Bartiromo is on the Trump appointed board of his Kennedy Center.
