Fox Business Network has cancelled Lou Dobbs’ long-running program, marking an abrupt end to one of its best-watched shows and the latest in a series of programming changes taking place at Fox News Media.
“As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business — this is part of those planned changes,” the company said in a statement. Starting Monday, an interim program, “Fox Business Tonight,” will fill Dobbs’ 5 p.m. slot, anchored Monday and Tuesday by Jackie DeAngelis and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by David Asman.
Dobbs’ cancelation was reported previously by The Los Angeles Times.
Dobbs is one of three Fox News personalities who has been sued along with the Fox Corporation unit by Smartmatic, a voting technology company that has levied a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit, citing damaging statements made on air during programs anchored by Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. Fox News has also been grappling with a downturn in viewership in several parts of its schedule after some far-right elements of its audience were outraged by its coverage of the 2020 election. In recent weeks, Fox News Channel has overhauled its daytime schedule and added a new opinion hour at 7 p.m.
Dobbs has been with Fox Business for a decade, joining the cable-news outlet after a long run at CNN, where he rose to become an executive vice president and lead shows like “Moneyline” and “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” But Dobbs took a new path while at Fox Business, launching into full-throated calls to rein in immigration, something that had begun to wear with CNN executives before he departed. In recent weeks, he insisted the 2020 election was not conducted fairly — without basis. “I see so little animation in the Republican Party on this,” Dobbs said on his show in November. “It’s as if it’s just another day at the store and when, in fact, I believe the fate of the republic hangs in the balance here. Don’t you?”