The title shouldn't fool you, I'm referring to Fox News as a business, not necessarily the programming you see oozing from your television. Over the past two years, Fox News has been increasingly digging out its niche in the world of "news" and sensationalism. This niche has made Fox News the most trusted and most widely viewed of all the 24 hour news stations. In January of 2010 Public Policy Polling did a national survey and found that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network. [1] Last night's primetime viewership of Fox and Friends topped 2,011,000 while MSNBC snagged 844,000 and CNN could only reel in 652,000. [2]
At the risk of obvious generalization, liberals will react to these numbers in two different ways, either they simply do not how it could be possible (they call this dumbfounded), or they pass off Fox News viewers as simplistic and simply craving comfort in this "scary, brave new world". Regardless of the reaction you hipsters (generalizing is fun) have to this, the numbers cannot be dismissed. Fox News simply dominates in ways MSNBC and CNN couldn't really hope to with their current line ups. How did it become so, that Hannity, Beck, and O'Reilly have simply become the kings of cable primetime? Even the Fox News daytime viewership blows the rest out of the water. What is it? Is it the "must be attractive blonde to be on camera" rule (not verified by any source)?
Fox News' success stems from a very simple, yet very difficult to replicate, formula. To say "it's because Obama is in power" is a cop-out. Sure that is part of it, people love to be angry, and love to watch other people share their anger, but it runs deeper. First off, it's clear that the whole of America has difficulty trusting mainstream media. We receive endless amounts of programming glorifying and exaggerating stories in an effort to boost ratings, we hear bias that is often considered left leaning, and the people we see delivering segments are not very relatable. So when they hear, very consistently, Fox News reporting on the atrocities of other media stations, certain things happen in the minds of the viewers. People agree with statements about how the media sensationalizes, so they figure they agree with the person saying it, so they begin to build a trust in that person or network even though he/she/it IS the same corporate run media, simply with different delivery methods. If you first knock down your opponent, there's really no one left to challenge your statement, even if it's just as hypocritical and bias as the former.
But demonizing mainstream media cannot be enough, individuals are smart enough that they will eventually figure out the person, or in this case network, is just as corrupt. This brings us to the next step, painting those opposed to the left as victims. This is one of the most consistent messages seen on Fox News and something other stations cannot possibly copy because they are "the liberal elite", what problems could they possibly have? "The Tea Party is being ignored by the Government", "Progressiveism is destroying this country from within", "good hard working people are paying for the wasteful programs in this country"... take your pick. This is where Fox really keeps viewers coming back, co-opting of anger. In this way people are not just able become informed by the programming, but to identify with those who are spouting the news or opinions.
This leads me to an example of the genius, when Laura Ingraham guest hosted for Bill O'Reilly the other night she had a segment comparing Tea Party protest with the protests towards the recent Arizona Immigration law. They were able to obtain a video of an unidentifiable person throwing an empty bottle at the back of a police officer's bike helmet, and another of someone inexplicably shaking his/her camera around (they claimed he was being attacked... or had Tourettes, but I digress). They went on to call out how the "the mainstream media largely ignored these incidents in stark contrast to the big headlines made by the mostly peaceful Tea Party protests". See? Genius. Look at all the hypocrisy in that statement. First off, she called out the "mainstream media"... she IS the mainstream media. Also, she compared one largely peaceful protest to another largely peaceful protest, but you're left thinking one is the victim and one is full of violent illegal aliens. I could go on to point out examples of the Fox News' use of this mechanism, but I'm not exactly getting paid by the word here.
This brings me to the final ingredient of the formula, on camera commentators removing themselves from the elite status. This is a bit more complicated than the other two pieces of the formula simply because it is done in a variety of ways. It is done through the tearful remembrance of Glenn Beck, the unapologetic anger from Sean Hannity, or one of the daytime news casters who will hide their bias through question marks or selective news casting. When viewers across the nation sit down with their wife and 3.2 kids to watch O'Reilly, they easily forget he is a multimillionaire who has published books and is more well known than the vast majority of the population and simply accept him as on of their own.
Fox News is infamous for helping people remember better times, before the liberals took over and destroyed this county with socialized medicine (wait a minute you mean before welfare and medicare?... never mind). A time when women couldn't vote and were at home raising the kids like they should. When blacks were separate or had to deal with difficult integration of schools. Obviously that is generalizing once again. The majority who watch Fox News done want to take away women's suffrage and bring back segregation, they simply long for a time when things were a little bit slower, they did not constantly have people barking their political beliefs in their faces, and government had a bit less influence on their lives. Does Fox News share these beliefs? The individuals on camera may, but I guarantee Rupert Murdoch and Fox Entertainment Group have no interest. The ultimate genius of Fox News is that they have convinced people that they are their partner in obtaining these values, while not actually representing any of the core beliefs of their viewers.
[1] “Poll; Fox Most Trusted Name in News”, Andy Barr, Politico, January 2010
[2] "Cable News Ratings for Tuesday April 27, 2010", Bill Gorman, TV By the Numbers, April 2010
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