Ex-Fox Anchor Gretchen Carlson Joins Podcast Boom

Former Fox News Anchor Gretchen Carlson hopes her recently launched daily podcast will be an oasis of objectivity for the public at a time when conflicting messages from conservative and liberal media sources about the presidential election are bombarding them.

Get the News Out With Gretchen Carlson is a 10-minute daily podcast from Quake Media, a startup offering listeners access to its ad-free political content for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. The self-described independent faces some daunting challenges in getting her show off the ground.

Not only is the podcast market getting increasingly crowded, but getting listeners to acccept her show as a genuinely independent voice won’t be easy. According to Gallup, Americans’ trust in the media has remained low for more than a decade and shows no signs of improving.

“In today’s highly polarized and super-opinionated society, it is nearly impossible to do a ‘straight news show’ that will not be perceived by a significant segment of the audience as biased,: writes Michael Harrison, founder of Talkers Magazine, a trade publication, in an e-mail. ”Many consumers of talk media believe if you are not with us, you’re against us.  Others take offense at story selection and even the use of terminology that they find irritating or indicative of affirming or criticizing their beliefs.”

The 54-year-old Minnesota native is a self-described independent and wanted to join Quake’s line-up for the chance to do something “unique.”  She also argues that her show won’t just be a dry reading of the headlines. It will feature interviews with women whom she admires, “fun facts” and uplifting :g stories among other things.

Quake’s other hosts are conservatives such as Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee along with liberal voices along with liberal former Tallahassee, Florida Mayor Andrew Gillum, and ex-CNN Anchor Soledad O’Brien. Conservative former Central intelligence Officer Buck Sexton and liberal academic Marc Lamont Hill are co-hosting a show together. 

“Over the past four years, a lot of my friends have said to me where can I just watch the news and get the facts,” Carlson said in an interview.

Carlson reportedly settled a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2016 that she filed against Fox News for $20 million that accused Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes of wrecking her career after she spurned his advances. Carlson said she is forbidden under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) from the case from discussing her former employer other than to say she no longer watches the channel. Her feelings about the state of cable news are abundantly clear.

‘While opinion television was remarkable when it first started and ahead of its time, people are tiring of it because they believe that it leads to the hyper-partisan environment that we now live in,” she said. “I hope to be a part of bringing people back together.’

Since leaving Fox, Carlson has kept plenty busy. She co-founded the non-profit LIft Our Voices to eliminate NDAs and forced arbitration from sexual harassment lawsuits and has lobbied the U.S. Congress on the issue.

In 2018, Carlson found herself in the headlines again when emails from the management team of the Miss America organizations mocking her and other former winners were leaked to the press. After their ouster, Carlson, Miss America 1989, was named chair of the organization.  Under Carlson’s leadership, the pageant eliminated its swimsuit competition in an effort to make the competition more relevant. She resigned from her volunteer position last year.

 She returned to television in 2018 as host and producer of the A&E and Lifetime Network documentary series on Breaking the Silence. She also did investigative reporting into the NXIVM sex cult and the college admissions scandel. Earlier this year, she announced a deal with Blumhouse Productions to produce and host a new interview series.