This has been the worst month for Fox News in its history.
Its founder, Roger Ailes, died 6 years ago today, so it’s a fitting time to take a close look at something he never would have allowed to happen.
Following an onslaught of embarrassing internal messages in the midst of the Dominion lawsuit, the news channel capitulated, writing a staggering $788 million dollar check to a company that was only valued at $80 million five years ago. Then they doubled down on capitulation, firing Tucker Carlson in both a clumsy and graceless way, seemingly oblivious to his real popularity.
Fox News navigated themselves into a minefield and then proceeded to step on every explosive along the way. The road before them won’t be smoother.
They’re facing a similar, $2.7 billion lawsuit by Smartmatic, whose executives are presumably shopping for mansions. Tucker, whose two post-Fox tweets have been viewed 215 million times, will be back in the arena. And even NewsMax is getting a ratings boost from Fox refugees, actually beating CNN in primetime for the first time in history.
Finally, they’re entering a presidential campaign where the majority of their audience supports Donald Trump. Yet he’s become an unwelcome guest in the Murdoch-owned outlets, most notably Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.
Looming larger than these issues is the fractured trust between Fox News and its faithful viewership. Some former viewers are boycotting, but even most tuning in nightly feel betrayed by the network. The relationship isn't beyond repair, but it's on the critical list.
So … what the heck happened?
Like so many things today, the root of the division is our national slide toward hyper partisanship. And, of course, Donald Trump had a hand in this as well.
The cable news lineup has for years, become more opinionated and more partisan. Trump’s rise accelerated that trend. For CNN and MSNBC it was easy: no host on their channels offered even a shred of support for Trump.
While non-viewers assume Fox was all-Trump-all-the-time, there were holdouts that riled Trump and many of his Fox-watching supporters. Megyn Kelly. Shepard Smith. Neil Cavuto. John Roberts.
But Fox’s troubles with its audience started in earnest at the September 2020 presidential debate between Trump and Biden. Conservatives felt slighted as Fox moderator Chris Wallace channeled a decidedly liberal narrative with his questions.
On election night, Fox viewers watched as the network prematurely called Arizona in favor of Biden. This effectively shut down Trump's path to re-election, though the call turned out to be accurate. As the ugly election aftermath unfolded over the following months, Fox News itself was divided into two halves: the opinion hosts and the journalists.
Opinion vs. facts
The hosts continued their usual routine, with most cozying up to Trump and basking in his ratings glow. Some held back, but others like Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo stuck with Trump’s “I was robbed!” mantra to the bitter end. Savvier hosts like Hannity and Carlson gave that side a fair hearing but stuck with more substantiated issues. They focused on concepts like states altering voting rules and steered clear of baseless ballot-counting claims.
The news reporters, handicapped by “facts”, saw their role as truth-tellers. Sometimes that turned into fact-checking the more popular Fox anchors. And sometimes their facts were delivered with a too-snarky attitude. The leaked Fox messages show a company-wide frustration, and from the outside, the whole enterprise looked leaderless.
The Dominion lawsuit didn’t create those problems, but it did expose them. It also made Fox react, ending with a hefty payout, a PR nightmare, and the dismissal of a host deeply respected by the Fox audience.
The numbers still favor Fox. The channel is wildly profitable, and as long conservative competitors are weak – which they are – I wouldn’t bet against them. However upset viewers might be, Fox is well-positioned in the cable world.
Still, all of their wounds have been self-inflicted, and the year ahead will be a battleground where they either recover lost ground or continue their downward slide.
Whatever happened to “we report, you decide”? Turned into “we take sides, you agree”.
FNC began downward turn when they censored Gingrich & then Pride Month & gay kid
Bad news
FNC was good early on then went down
Strong NewsMax fan
Rename Fox Sq: NewsMax Sq