If Fox News wouldn't give people what they wanted, then Newsmax was happy to do so.
Fox protected its brand.
By now, readers of this blog have heard the news about texts by Fox executives and news hosts which state frankly that they knew full well that Trump lost the 2020 election.
They knew claims of fraud were bogus and that there was no credible evidence that Dominion's vote tabulating machines corrupted the election. They shared panicked texts with each other agreeing that they needed to promote the false story anyway. Their viewers did not want to see Fox in disagreement with Trump.
Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich, fact checking a Trump tweet, on November 12, 2020 wrote:
"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
This was unacceptable. Tucker Carlson texted Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity:
“Please get her fired. Seriously….What the fuck? I’m actually shocked…It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.Fox didn't care about Dominion. They were focused on defending their brand by giving its Trump-believing viewers what they wanted and only what they wanted. Fox was already under suspicion by Trump and its viewers. Shepard Smith left, saying he couldn't take it anymore. Fox anchor Chris Wallace hosted the first Trump debate with Biden, in which Wallace appeared to disapprove of Trump's interruptions. Fox anchor Neil Cavuto, had pulled away from a post-election White House press conference that asserted election fraud, saying on air, “I can’t in good countenance continue to show you this.” Fox had infuriated viewers on election night by correctly calling the Arizona election as a Biden victory.
“I’m 3 strikes. Wallace s**t debate[.] Election night a disaster[.] Now this BS? Nope. Not gonna fly. Did I mention Cavuto?”
Newsmax had brand clarity. Fox was looking wobbly. Fox was uncomfortable with Trump's position, but saw that its audience was not. Pillow entrepreneur Mike Liddell was doing interviews on Newsmax and complaining about Fox. Yikes! News Producer Abby Grossberg texted Maria Bartiromo, "To be honest, our audience doesn't want to hear about a peaceful transition" of power because "they still have hope" of Trump remaining in power. Fox executives and hosts decided to protect the brand, validating guests who they privately described in texts as crazy and dishonest.
Mainstream commentary treats this as a shocking expose. I see it differently.
This is an opportunity for Fox to come clean and affirm their brand. Fox feeds its huge audience outrage and resentment. It shapes a political party. Fox is not a news channel. They serve a particular appetite. So do comedy channels, home repair channels, and the golf channel. They are what they are.
I liken Fox News to a snack food company. Cheetos are edible and designed to be delicious, but no one seriously thinks they are a fair and balanced part of a healthy diet. Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of Pepsi, makes and sells them. If customers began switching to Kelloggs' Cheez-it crackers, preferring their greater cheesiness, one wouldn't blame Frito-Lay for announcing a change in formula even if it made an already unhealthy snack even less healthy. They are in the salty snack business, not the healthy nutrition business. No need to pretend otherwise.
This whole event might be liberating for Fox. Fox will survive this lawsuit. It is not clear that Dominion has been badly financially damaged. The whole dustup demonstrated Dominion's reliability, having survived partisan audits. Fox can afford to pay a settlement, even a $1.5 billion one. Fox News is huge and very profitable. Fox gives its audience what it wants, the information equivalent of salt, fat, empty carbs, and a pleasing crunch. If Fox loses, it will have its own wonderful grievance to complain about.
9 comments:
The junk food cheetos analogy is a really great one, and one that had never occurred to me before so kudos for thinking of that. In keeping with the spirit of your analogy, people who overindulge constantly in foods like that tend to experience health problems such as diabetes, obesity and more. Similarly the Fox News "diet" experience significant problems with accepting reality as it is, and instead often get stuck in a crazy fantasy world of conspiracies theories and falsehoods.
Which can lead them to believe such things as that being "Woke" is worse than being Racist, that CRT is taking over public schools (spoiler alert: it isn't, it's actually a course only taught at college levels), and that the mere existence of people who's sexuality or gender identity don't conform to their rigid black and white standards are child grooming pedophiles in league with Satanic democrats to drink the blood of children for demonic purposes.
I wish I was exaggerating or making any of that up.... this country needs a heavy dose of reality and for people who still have the capacity to use common sense to get out there and vote to keep the Qrazies under control.
Perhaps the most sad thing about the Fox News revelations is the high likelihood that the folks who watch Fox regularly and are the victims/marks of these snake oil salesmen like Hannity and Carlson will NEVER even see or hear about any of this. It's actually kind of amusing in a "Holy s***, we really are f***ed" kind of way.
Karen McDougal sued Fox Noise for defamation, claiming Tucker Carlson slandered her on his show. In 2020, Fox won the lawsuit by arguing that no “reasonable viewer” would take him seriously. Dominion is liable to lose its case because the same could be said about the station itself – never mind all the chumps who swallow its bullshit.
Thanks to their profit model, far too many clueless Americans believe the psychopath who claims he should be president. It's not only shameless, but dangerous.
I wouldn't compare FOX to Cheetos, more to Pork Rinds, the really cheap ones.
But I digress...
The defamation lawsuit has exposed FOX's cynical hypocrisy, that's not nothing.
No one takes the National Enquirer seriously, with the obvious exception of the mentally challenged. FOX's power is its credibility because it has the appearance of a legitimate news channel; the talking head format, graphics, attractive presenters, etc. They have that authoritarian gravitas that is appealing to the Regressive mindset since it relieves them from the labor of fact checking, for instance the recent outrage over the false story about gas stoves.
In hierarchy of information dissemination and belief frameworks, starting at the bottom with those who don't look beyond the bible and working up to our most cogent perception of the nature of reality through the lens of advanced physics, FOX ranks a nudge above TV evangelists.
If the revelations pull back the curtain for a few viewers it will be of value.
You play devil's advocate here, Peter, but I'm not sure why.
Cheetos doesn't call itself health food. It is required to list its ingredients on its package. But Fox News calls itself a news organization. It thus has a commitment that it wouldn't have if it billed itself as an entertainment of political commentary organization.
A far more accurate analogy would be to Bernie Madoff's investment business. He posed as a brilliant investment manager and took people's money with the understanding that he would invest it. Yet, he actually never invested any money but created phony trade sheets to show his clients. He got away with it for years thanks to an SEC that was blinded by his reputation on Wall Street, but ultimately had to confess to running a Ponzi scheme when the markets collapsed in 2008 and his clients insisted on withdrawing their money. Lots of people lost their retirement savings.
Like Madoff, Fox News is scamming its viewers to their detriment and to the detriment of our entire body politic. Unfortunately, its behavior isn't illegal, although it is obvious open to civil laws suits when its lies damage people or businesses like Dominion. Were it to come clean (as you suggest the current revelations have, against its will) enabled it to come clean, we could accept your take on this situation. But it's not going to come clean to its viewers, who, as "Woke guy" said above, are unlikely to learn of the scam.
It is very sad, but apparently Faux News viewers are too dumb, ignorant and personally invested to realize that their favorite "news outlet" is fake. Many of these viewers also support and donate to fake politicians and religious leaders, including quite a few televangelists.
A sucker is born everyday and dishonesty and fraud appear to be on the rise. Fraudsters have more tools and opportunities than ever thanks to technology.
The folks who watch Faux News and support other obvious charlatans accuse main stream and liberal/left media of being just as dishonest and fake.
It is extremely difficult to get hard-core believers in a religion, cult or movement to change their perspective. They are brain-washed and addicted. More than a few have mental problems of one kind or another. Alternate views and asking questions are not allowed.
The down side of a blatant hard-hitting far right pseudo conservative label is, perhaps, exclusion from the White House press pool. Although, most news channels have morphed into infotainment outlets more interested in ratings than reporting the story. Personally I'm annoyed at the paparazzi-style reporter that stand and yell out their stupid questions with the cameras on them, as if they're the story playing the game of gotcha.
I would enjoy seeing NewsMAX and FOX submitting their questions in writing for White House Press Secretary fielding. In an open society we won't be able to do exclude them. We should exercise some decorum considering the weightiness of the issues and events discussed. It may cool down the rage if they will stop with everything hair-on-fire.
And meanwhile, the mainstream media destroyed their credibility by catering to the other side of the political spectrum. Read the recent report by the Columbia Journalism Review for chapter and verse.
Fortunately, I never bothered with OAN or Newsmax.
My eyes have seen and my ears have heard a lot from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN/CNN International, BBC News, France24 English, MSNBC, FOX, and FOX News over the years (and there are many, many more which I have sampled in my travels around the world). Same goes for newspapers. blogs, and magazines.
Each has its plusses and minuses. All of them want listeners, readers, and viewers to justify the advertising dollars they receive. They adjust their content to attract as many people as possible. At the end of the day, those advertising dollars pay for their personalities, reporters and operating expenses.
I'm amazed that too many of the public don't always know how to determine whether they are watching/reading/listenting to news, opinion, or analysis.
Peter, Dominion's financial woes are clear. Just look south, to Shasta County (CA) where the Board of Stupidvisors is trying to find a new vendor.
Dominion has a very strong case.
Post a Comment