Brit Hume Gets Ready To Step Down At Fox News

Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

During his dozen years as the anchor of Fox News' flagship nightly political newscast, "Special Report," Brit Hume has always managed to convey a certain seriousness and gravitas -- even as viewers of a liberal bent scoffed at his cable network's claim to be "fair and balanced."

But during a recent wide-ranging telephone interview to discuss his upcoming retirement, the 32-year television veteran seemed positively giddy when asked how he felt while anchoring his last election-night broadcast on Fox -- during which a Democrat won the White House. In one newspaper report he was described as looking like "the world's most depressed Bassett hound."

"I don't think any reasonable person who watched that would have come to that conclusion," Hume sputtered, seemingly caught between amusement and outrage. "We had a rollicking broadcast. We had more fun that night -- we went in with the attitude that we were going to have a great time and we did."

Now Hume, 65, is ready to let someone else have all the fun, or at least most of it. He's stepping down as anchor of "Special Report," although he'll still be on the air for about 100 days a year, serving as a senior political analyst, anchor for special events, panelist on "Fox News Sunday" and occasional substitute for its host, Chris Wallace.

Hume, whose "Special Report" is the highest-rated political program on cable television, is, quite frankly, exhausted. "If you're doing a one-hour program on a cable channel and trying to keep the quality up, you work very hard, the days are long and it's an intense competitive business, and it wears you down."

Read the whole story: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Comments

[2Hope4ever]

Good, because that is one unattractive dude. (Putting it mildly).

[kellygrrrl]

Brit's face and voice upon the announcement of Obama winning will forever be a moment I relish.

[IllinoisTexan43]

We laughed ourselves silly over his dour looking face!

[freebird67]

I can't stand the looks of Van Susteren either. Remember Joey when he talked about the "Smell the f**t acting", she looks like someone's always cracked loose a big one around her.

[Echoesofhope]

I was not by cable the night of the election, so I had to do with network TV. I thought George Stephanopoulos had the most disappointing look on TV on the night of a historic election. I truely believed looking at him that night that he was either too tired( which is hardly an excuse because most reporters relish the opportunity on a night like that) or he was just blatantly sad that HOPE won.

[MathIsTruth]

The HuffPo headline says that Hume is getting ready to "step down" at Fox News.

This is, of course, impossible. The only possible direction upon leaving Fox News is up.

[walkaway]

{Now, even as the country -- and Washington, D.C -- have become more polarized, Hume says he's weary not just of the daily grind but of the unrelenting partisanship gripping the nation's capital, day in and day out.

"I love this city. I was born here. I grew up here, but the atmosphere is so toxic now. I find it unpleasant and the city's really become Balkanized politically, in a way that it didn't used to be, and I don't much care for it anymore," he said quietly.}

Along with the criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their minions (including a lockstep republican congress) the propaganda machine at FOXnews are the ones that created this toxin.

Why do these people hate America?

[marijam]

Wow! Really? You mean these people really do have a conscience after all?

[Knowitall]

The "balkanization" began in the Reagan years and accelerated from then on. The partisanship of the last 8 years has been the highest in the last 60 years. Seems like, as usual, the neocons were completely blind to the divisiveness they brought to this city. I think it's because they locked out any and all dissenting opinions and only listened to each other (Thus fox news and Rush, etc.) Now they will have to listen to policies they don't agree with, and they can't take it.

I say "Good Riddance".

[BuzzingAlong]

This clown perpetuated much of the "unrelenting partisanship gripping the nation's capital".

God, I hate these people.

[Daniboy]

How can Fox be #1 cable news network. Maybe they bribe the pollsters?

[kellygrrrl]

ratings are easily bought -- like almost everything else.

[Knowitall]

They have also cornered many cable media markets, particularly in the south and the west, so that the only cable news channel you can get on basic cable is Fox News. Not many people are going to pay extra to have another news channel, so they have local news and Fox (makes me shudder to think about it.)

[Knowitall]

Should add, I think that's one reason their so afraid of the Fairness Doctrine. (Equal time for opposing views on the air.)

[Aramingo]

Like Menken said: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. That's how.

[Daniboy]

How are all you people such experts on Fox news-I get the feelig you never watch it!

[dak242628]

hey daniboy im sure you have read these lame blogs from here about fox news. they have no idea what there talking about they get all their info about fox from liberal sites. they have no mind of there own. they are sheep.

[thefringecenter]

hey dak242666, we won, you lost.

[2Hope4ever]

I've tried to watch Fox News on many occasions, but my blood pressure is more important to me. I just can't stomach the crap the verbalize. It's ridiculous!

[wagthedog1001]

I have the feelIG everyone who over-generalizes all the time about all groups of people can't think.

[Aramingo]

I've watched it here and there over the years. One particularly egregious moment involved Hume. Newsweek had just published an issue whose cover depicted Bush in a bubble. The article inside made the case that Ol'Dubya was out of touch and isloated. Hume and his henchmen "discredited" the story by saying things like "Well, Newsweek is out of touch" for aobut 10 minutes. Not once did they challenge a single fact or assertion made in the article. It was as though by heaping scorn upon the source of the story (Newsweek), they had somehow rendered it false. That's not journalism. That's bullshit. That's Fox.

[lvogt]

Step. Step!

[PrincessAnnie]

I can't stand him...he's better off staying at Fox where there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of me ever seeing him.

[franklin opt]

Shar-peis everywhere are looking even sadder...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=239661&mesg_id=239891

[kellygrrrl]

shar-peis are way too cute to be associated with Hume.
He's more like the Human Paper Bag.

[iPolitics]

H*nnity, O'Re*lly, Beck: Future of the GOP and Faux News.

[ReelBusy]

He has to retire since the White House can't fax/email him the daily script for his show after Jan 20th.

[granamica]

That is the naked truth!

[CabaretArtist]

Amen!

[christianmama4change]

Can't say I'll miss him - he actually thought the last 8 years were okay on an interview I watched him do during the campaign!

[sasidechick]

I saw the same interview. He basically sounded like Phil Gramm and everyone was a bunch of whiners. I remember he kept saying "It's not that bad". He said it about five or six times.

[bandillero]

Ssh, don't tell anyone. Brit left many years. That figure droning monotously is a propped up dummy

[gatogato]

He once called Camilla Parker Bowles ugly. Has he ever looked in the mirror? YEEEEEESCH

[Knowitall]

That's one of the things about sexism that always puzzled me. The worst looking men are the ones who like to trash the looks of women. It's truly bizarre.

[jaydeedub]

He's got to be the most dour anchor/pundit/spinmeister on TV.