Fox News has hired Dr. Ben Carson as a contributor across all of its programs and platforms.
Carson will make his formal debut tonight during “The Kelly File” at 9 PM. He has appeared with some regularity on the channel over the past few months.
Carson is well-known in the medical community, but started making more frequent appearances on cable news after the National Prayer Breakfast in February. During the breakfast (which was nationally televised on C-SPAN, and replayed on cable news for days) he criticized a number of policies supported by President Obama, while standing just a few feet away from the President.
“Dr. Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon who has dedicated his life to healing others,” Fox News CEO Roger Ailes says in a statement. “He also has a broad perspective on what’s going on in the country and his wisdom and provocative viewpoints will make a major contribution to our network.”
Johnny $ noticed that Carson was listed as a contributor back in August, though FNC only acknowledged he had been hired today.
More information below.
FOX NEWS SIGNS DR. BEN CARSON TO CONTRIBUTOR ROLE
FOX News has hired columnist, author and humanitarian Dr. Ben Carson as a contributor, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of the network. Carson will provide analysis and commentary across FOX News Channel’s (FNC) daytime and primetime programming. He will make his debut in the new role on The Kelly File (9:00 PM/ET) this evening, Wednesday, Oct. 9th.
In making the announcement, Ailes said, “Dr. Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon who has dedicated his life to healing others. He also has a broad perspective on what’s going on in the country and his wisdom and provocative viewpoints will make a major contribution to our network.”
For 39 years, Carson served as the director of pediatric surgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He recently retired in June 2013 and now serves as a professor emeritus at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. During his career there, he achieved several miraculous feats in the field of neurosurgery, including the first and only successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head in 1987. A recipient of hundreds of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008, Carson also holds more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees and is a member of numerous prestigious groups.
In addition to his work in the medical field, Carson sits on the board of directors of various organizations, including Kellogg Company, Costco Wholesale Corporation and the Academy of Achievement, and is a fellow emeritus of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University. He is also the president and co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. A highly regarded motivational speaker, he has spoken twice during the president’s National Prayer Breakfast, most recently in February 2013. Carson earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School.
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. A top five cable network, FNC has been the most watched news channel in the country for more than eleven years and according to Public Policy Polling, is the most trusted television news source in the country. Owned by 21st Century Fox, FNC is available in more than 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.