After 22 years of anchoring Phoenix’s FOX 10 News programs at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., Kari Lake is walking away. She and her co-host John Hook leapt to the top of the charts almost immediately and stayed there, a remarkable achievement.
She took a family leave of absence the first of the year but was forced to explain her absence publicly as rumors and innuendoes escalated about her absence. She did so on Rumble:
This time away from work has given me a chance to reflect on my work….
Sadly, journalism has changed a lot since I first stepped into a newsroom and, I’ll be honest, I don’t like the direction it’s going.
The media needs more balance in coverage and a wider range of viewpoints represented in every newsroom at every level and at each position.
She no longer “felt proud to be a member of the media,” adding:
I’m sure there are other journalists out there who feel the same way.
I found myself reading news copy that I didn’t believe was fully truthful, or only told part of the story. And I began to feel that I was contributing to the fear and division in this country by continuing on in this profession.
It’s been a serious struggle for me and I no longer want to do this job anymore.
So I decided the time was right to do something else, and I’m leaving Fox 10.
Wearing a tiny but visible cross of Christ, Lake said that it was “scary” to leave a successful career but said, “I know God has my back and will guide me to work that aligns with my values.”
She told the Arizona Daily Independent that part of the reasons that rumors and innuendos began surfacing were “to scare other journalists who are open-minded and considerate of all points of view to snap back into line or they, too, will be ‘canceled’ and their reputations attacked.”
For example, when COVID hit, she felt that some of the news copy she was reading on the air didn’t tell the whole story:
It really got difficult for me when COVID hit. I felt the stories I was reading were not fully truthful.
The ‘cancel’ mob’s insistence that certain COVID-related stories not be told or even whispered, while others were told over-and-over made me feel as if I was not giving a balanced view of the situation to [our] viewers.
I became a journalist to be helpful, not harmful, but some of the stories I was reading [were] likely contributing to the fear and division, and I couldn’t do that anymore.
I prayed a lot of guidance, asking God to lead me in the right direction.
How many other journalists are struggling with the same issues? How many of them have simply decided that work is more important than principle and are staying put, and silent?
How many of them have faced the issue directly and decided to “go with the flow” and hope nobody notices that they’ve sold their soul for a mess of pottage?
At least one — Kari Lake of Phoenix — has confronted the issue head-on and made the right choice. She ended her Rumble video:
Not everyone is dedicated to telling the truth. But thankfully many of you have figured that out. I promise you: if you hear it from my lips [in the future] it will be truthful.
