"It is my hope that the facts will win the day. That the truth will always matter. That journalism and journalists will thrive. I'm Shepard Smith, Fox News, New York."
It looks like Fox News is going all in on Trump. A dissident voice is leaving.
But something is odd here.
The simple truth about Fox News is that it is a business and that Fox advertisers want viewers and the Fox audience wants the Trump view of the world and nothing else.
Therefore, the straightforward explanation is that Fox made Shepard Smith so uncomfortable that he left, or that they told him he had to get into line with the Fox News narrative, "or else," and he wouldn't do it. Their audience has its own set of facts. Fox audience wants to feel outrage at woke liberals, at Democrats, at Hillary and Obama and Pelosi and especially AOC. They want to hear that Trump is their embattled voice. It is a big, influential, profitable audience.
Therefore, the straightforward explanation is that Fox made Shepard Smith so uncomfortable that he left, or that they told him he had to get into line with the Fox News narrative, "or else," and he wouldn't do it. Their audience has its own set of facts. Fox audience wants to feel outrage at woke liberals, at Democrats, at Hillary and Obama and Pelosi and especially AOC. They want to hear that Trump is their embattled voice. It is a big, influential, profitable audience.
Shepard Smith reported news that contradicted many of those facts. So maybe it is clear and simple--a corporation wants to maintain its brand and audience.
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| Fox website lead story |
Notice, first, that this story is covered at all on Fox. Next, notice that it could easily have had a very different, normal-Fox frame, for example, "Deep state coup" or it could have introduced the criticism of Trump with its rebuttal, e.g. "Trump calls secret critic 'cowardly lunatic'."
Maybe this is a turning point. Trump may have simply gone too far.
He had said aloud what people at Fox needed to be left unsaid if it is to remain true. Trump said Fox "isn't working for us anymore." That was embarrassing for Fox. I watched their news hosts indignantly say they didn't work for Trump.
In August Trump had spilled the beans complaining that Fox "doesn't deliver for us anymore," and his supporters needed to "start looking for a new News Outlet." This week he noted that Fox reported a poll showing a majority of Americans now favored impeachment and removal. He tweeted of their pollster, "they suck," and that Fox News is "much different than it used to be in the good old days." At the Minnesota rally he listed out the names from memory of the "good" people at Fox, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and many more who are less visible. Trump knows his Fox, maybe too well.
Shepard Smith's leaving may signal a turning point, a sign that Fox cannot maintain credibility as anything but the propaganda arm of Trump, and that is a vulnerable position. Judge Napolitano is on their air, saying what Trump did in the phone call to Ukraine is illegal and worthy of impeachment. Trump's changing story--no collusion and then there is nothing whatever wrong with collusion--means some of his congressional supporters are doing careful mumbles. It is just too dangerous to echo a Trump position since it might change on a whim.
Trump just implicated his Vice President, Secretary of State, and Energy Secretary. Trump is now distancing himself from Rudy Giuliani, whose associates were arrested while fleeing the country. It looks weird.
It is dangerous to be loyal to Trump.
Smith's leaving may mean Fox is all-in for Trump. I may have this all wrong. Or maybe it means that Fox now recognizes that Trump is just too high a price.
1 comment:
Interesting take, but I think it's simpler. Smith probably has been eyeing the exit for a while and while it's speculation I would like to think it's an act of principle. He may feel that his future could be compromised (Megyn?) if he continued. FOX needed someone like him to have a sheen of credibility and "fairness" so I don't think there was pressure.
I've always felt FOX would abandon Trump if advertisers started whining, and that pressure, from consumers, is real. The fallback will be to the "both sides do it" position, but the real tension is between the "opinion" shows and reality. Either Tucker will become more critical or he will go and Greta will return.
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