Chris Wallace leaves Fox News for CNN's streaming service

Variety

The Fox News Sunday host, whose contract expires at the end of the year, announced his departure from Fox News this morning after 18 years. Shortly after, CNN announced Wallace will join CNN+, its new streaming service, with a new weekday show that will premiere in the first quarter of 2022. “I am thrilled to join CNN+," Wallace said in a statement. "After decades in broadcast and cable news, I am excited to explore the world of streaming. I look forward to the new freedom and flexibility streaming affords in interviewing major figures across the news landscape—and finding new ways to tell stories. As I embark on this adventure, I am honored and delighted to join Jeff Zucker and his great team. I can’t wait to get started.” Wallace delivered the news of his departure during the closing minutes of Fox News Sunday. “I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure. And I hope you’ll check it out,” said Wallace in his final words on the show. Wallace, 74, left ABC News to helm Fox News Sunday in 2003, succeeding Tony Snow. Wallace was hired at the conservative news network because of his evenhandedness and because then-Fox News chairman Roger Ailes considered him "one of the best interviewers in the business."

ALSO:

• CNN's Brian Stelter blames Chris Wallace's departure on Fox News becoming "more and more radicalized": “Chris Wallace is one of the journalists that is at Fox who stands out like a sore thumb because the network has become more and more radicalized, both in the Trump years and now in the Biden years,” said the Reliable Sources host. “I’m told according to sources knowledgeable with the matter, he decided to leave on his own, he wanted out at the end of his contract this year. So, that speaks volumes about Fox and what’s changing at Fox.”
• Wallace's exit comes after recently objecting to Tucker Carlson's Patriot Purge docuseries
• Media watchers question what will happen to Fox News' "news" side without Chris Wallace
• Chris Wallace and Jake Tapper have had a testy relationship, and now they're colleagues at CNN
• Fox News Sunday will go on with rotating guest-hosts, including Bret Baier, John Roberts, Shannon Bream, Martha MacCallum, Neil Cavuto, Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer