“We got lost,” a Fox News insider remarked to me recently, and there are many data points to back up the claim.
Nielsen numbers for January were announced Tuesday and Fox took third place in the three-horse cable news race for the first time since 2001. Additionally, CNN was the # 1 channel across cable.
Think about it this way: January was one of the greatest months of political news in a generation, but Fox couldn’t take advantage of it. Rather than competing by promoting correspondents and pushing the coverage to the fore, the network prioritized increasingly outrageous, increasingly extreme opinions. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” was essentially expanded to “Tucker Carlson Day and Night”.
That may very well turn out to be Fox’s best guess from a corporate POV. “Reclaim a grassroots audience who scorn the news by ignoring the news and affirming their views 24/7” makes sense from an economic, if not ethical standpoint. But for now, Fox is dabbling in third place, and it’s shocking to see. The lack of editorial leadership is palpable, according to numerous network sources. And even in its weakened ratings, Fox is reflecting and driving the radicalization of the GOP …
Reporting on pontification
Here’s how the team at The Daily Beast described Fox’s “nosedive” on Tuesday: The streak came to an abrupt end on Tuesday, as rivals CNN and MSNBC claimed the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings respectively in all cable television. Fox News’ embarrassing third place is the continuation of a downward trend in which the right-cleaning outlet lost to CNN in the fourth quarter of 2020 and alienated the loyal viewers who supported Trump by calling Arizona early for Joe Biden during election night coverage. “
There are certainly many reasons for these trendlines. The Fox base’s frustration with the election results is one. The availability of Newsmax as an alternative to Fox is another. The confused politics of the moment, in which President Biden is visibly trying to cooperate with Republicans, is another.
Public demand for news is another important reason. Between the pandemic, the transfer of power and the uprising, many people want coverage before pontifying, and CNN is built on that. Fox is not. (Count the number of CNN desks versus Fox.) Fox actively avoids the news when producers think bluster will score better – for example, on Tuesday night, CNN and MSNBC showed the US Capitol ceremony for police officer Brian Sicknick while Fox held on with the screeching party of Sean Hannity. Laura Ingraham only briefly showed the ceremony when Biden visited the Capitol to pay his respects …
Is this Trump’s fault?
President Trump helped the network in the short term – but in the end, the network hurt Trump and he injured them too. “Never before has a network been so closely linked to a commander in chief,” WaPo’s Sarah Ellison and Jeremy Barr wrote on Tuesday. Now Fox is experiencing “something of an identity crisis.”
Now, according to many Fox sources, Rupert Murdoch is re-affirming himself with the network and fixated on flipping the ratings. Ellison and Barr reported that Rupert has “provided a steady stream of callers with advice on how to deal with Trump’s political stance, which is splitting the Republican Party.”
“A work in progress”
Rupert Murdoch has made it a habit to respond to recorded emails from journalists. It’s a habit that I strongly support.
Commenting on WaPo, particularly the outlet’s coverage of Fox News president Jay Wallace being scrutinized, Rupert wrote that “Lachlan, myself and Suzanne Scott have complete confidence in Jay Wallace.” His other quotes:
– “Chris Stirewalt’s departure had nothing to do with the correct Arizona call from the Fox decision desk.”
– “The new daytime lineup is the work of Mrs. Scott and [new managing editor for news] Tom Lowell, and to some extent there is still work in progress. “
The great unknowns
– Bill Keveney’s headline for USA Today poses the big question: “CNN moves to No. 1, Fox drops post-election shake-up: will it last?”
– What schedule changes are planned at CNN? What about MSNBC?
– Will the start of the Biden Presidency lead to a wider decline in news interest and viewership?
Fox’s program overhaul in January was just the beginning. What’s next?
– What do Fox’s rating trends, including a strong preference for sinister talk over straightforward news, say about the right-wing public?
– Certain Fox stories (think Benghazi and “Obamagate”) make viewers feel like they are part of a campaign; what will be the next campaign?
– Newsmax has fallen from its post-election highs, but is still a painful thorn in Fox’s side. Will the rebellious network find ways to grow?
Newsmax segment flies off the rails
Oliver Darcy writes: “Did you see
this viral video yet? It’s what happens when a network faces massive legal exposure. On Tuesday, Newsmax invited MyPillow head honcho Mike Lindell on the air to a discussion of the cancellation culture and Big Tech ‘censorship’ – and it ended ironically with the hosts effectively ‘canceling’ Lindell and ‘censoring’ his speech. The discussion
went off track when Lindell started promoting discredited conspiracy theories about voting machines. Host Bob Sellers, clearly prepared for this possibility, stepped in and dismissed the allegations of fraud. But Lindell kept pushing for the claims, so Sellers asked producers if they could move on, “Can we get out of here, please?” I thought this was strange; at CNN, anchors are empowered to end segments instead of pleading for help from the control room. Moments later, Sellers gave up and left camera range, while co-anchor Heather Childers continued with Lindell … “
>> The context: Newsmax has not yet been charged by Smartmatic or Dominion. But the companies’ legal threats clearly scared the network …
>> Of course some Newsmax fans sided with Lindell over the network …
It’s not the “all channels” problem
Oliver Darcy writes: Nicolle Wallace asked former Senator Bob Corker on Tuesday if Fox deserves responsibility for all the disinfo flowing through the Republican Party. It was a good question (and the answer is yes, of course) but
Corker dodged by blaming ‘all channels’ for opinion programming. However, it should be emphasized: opinion programming based on a shared set of facts and delivering outright propaganda to millions every night are two completely different things and should not be put together … “
