The existential crisis of Fox News: what is at stake between the support of Trump and the rejection of his lies
While Trump encourages his supporters to leave the competition, Fox News tries to maintain its news channel appearance so as not to lose its position on cable television platforms while maintaining late-night shows that amplify conspiracies.
At 11:20 pm on election night, Fox News made its screening. The Democratic candidate had achieved a key status, a victory that paved his way to be president of the United States. In the Fox News studio, Karl Rove, a conservative commentator and veteran Republican strategist, couldn't hide his fury. And Republican viewers, neither. As soon as it broke the news, Fox News began to internally question this decision, but did not back down.
It was the 2012 presidential election and Fox News had just projected that Barack Obama was the winner in Ohio, defeating Mitt Romney. On January 20, 2013, he was sworn in as president for the second time.
Eight years later, on November 3, 2020, Fox News found itself in a similar position. The conservative news network was the first to report on the fact that Democrats were winning in Arizona - it had only happened once in 72 years. Donald Trump and his advisers were furious and called Fox officials to ask them to recant. The president's supporters also showed their outrage.
Republicans who gathered to protest outside a vote-tallying center in Phoenix, Arizona, shouted, "Fox News sucks!" They turned their ire on an outlet whose star presenters, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, have spent the past four years praising virtually every Trump action or statement.
Now, in the turbulent week following the news coverage of the Democratic victory in Arizona, Fox News, America's most-watched cable news channel, is experiencing something of an existential crisis.
Trump is still furious. Last week he posted several comments on Twitter criticizing Fox News and even suggested to his followers that they seek other sources of information.
Despite his outburst of anger, the truth is that Trump has proposed another Fox program, specifically that of presenter Sean Hannity. And the president's incoherent attitude goes hand in hand with the incoherence of Fox's content, which ranges from news content to intolerable.
Depending on the host, the network either supports or ignores Trump's unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. For their part, many viewers who support Trump feel that the network has turned its back on the president and say they will never see Fox News again.
"Fox News has always tried to strike a complicated balance: on the one hand, it wants to appear to be an independent media outlet, and on the other, it wants to support conservative policies," says Eric Deggans, television critic for NPR public radio and media analyst for communication from NBC News and MSNBC. "There have to be times when they act as a true news outlet to maintain this apparent independence."
Debate between reality and fantasy
Right now the channel seems unable to maintain that balance. Since election day, there is a daily live debate between reality and fantasy.
“They’re actually chanting Fox News Sucks” pic.twitter.com/XqfiHln6Mt
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 5, 2020
The morning and afternoon programs have presenters who apply predominantly journalistic criteria. Last week the channel cut a press conference by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany when she made a series of unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. "I can't keep showing you this," said Fox News host Neil Cavuto.
However, in the evening's programming, the most popular presenters of the network enter the scene, such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, and Fox enters an alternative universe in which the Democrats have manipulated, up or down depending on the status, the number of votes. The bottom line is always the same: Trump won the election.
This makes the effort to look like a news channel increasingly difficult.
"There is growing tension in the Republican Party and Fox News viewers have the feeling that any story that contradicts a conservative worldview is wrong," says Deggans. "I think it's getting harder and harder for Fox News to maintain that balance."
.@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020
It's so hard you wonder why they bother trying.
Competition gains strength
The most watched programs on Fox News are the Carlson and Hannity propaganda hours. In the second quarter of 2020, the Tucker Carlson Tonight show set a record for viewership with 4,331,000, while Hannity's show had the second-best ever number of viewers at 4,311,000.
With these figures, why does Fox News not cling to the conspiracy theories of the right, denigrate activists of the Black Lives Matter movement and bet on a theory that extols the figure of Trump?
"Ultimately, Fox's power lies in its viewer numbers," says Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters, a progressive organization that monitors the work of the media.
Fox News just cut away from the Trump campaign presser after @PressSec made the “explosive charge” of widespread voter fraud without any “proof” to back her claims. @TeamCavuto said he would dip back in if McEnany provided any specific evidence.
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) November 9, 2020
"Not only the number of viewers, but also their loyalty. The relationship they have built with the audience and aggressive negotiation strategies allow them to maintain the obscene rates they receive from cable television platforms."
In his opinion, Fox News is "negotiating many of its contracts and if the channel is seen as an extremist medium that does not have a journalistic side, this will affect its bargaining power."
For Fox News it is worrying that some users and groups on Facebook that support Trump have declared war on him. "The time has come to move on to Newsmax or One America News" is just one example of a post that proposes turning its back on Fox News. "It's official: Fox News has joined the corrupt media," says another.
Another user claims that viewers should "F FOX News" (send Fox News to hell, f for fuck). "They have sold their souls and lost the respect of millions of loyal viewers. Boycott them and show them the power of the almighty dollar."
More competition
Could it be said that Fox News is on the ropes? Without a doubt, in the past it has survived criticism from its own audience. However, it now has new competitors. "In the past there were no other options that now exist," Carusone points out: "Now you have platforms like Newsmax and One America News Network that could keep part of the audience.
Both Newsmax and One America News Network are more right-wing channels than Fox News. Both have adhered to conspiracy theories, such as one that claims that Democrats planned to infect Trump with coronavirus, or that Anthony Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, funded the creation of the virus. .
During the summer, Newsmax TV had about 25,000 viewers a day, according to CNN's Brian Stelter. In the week of the elections, the figure soared to 182,000 viewers. After the electoral result and the outrage of some viewers with the news treatment of Fox, its audience rating has increased. According to Nielsen, Newsmax's late-night shows have drawn between 700,000 and 800,000 viewers.
Fox News far exceeds the viewership ratings of these two newcomers. However, the support Newsmax is receiving from Trump is likely paying off.
Last week, Trump retweeted five different messages praising Newsmax, noting that Fox News' ratings for the day - where Trump is treated relatively fairly - have "plummeted" and he claims they have "fallen." forgotten "of his" goose that lays the golden eggs ".
Trump's television future
A final breakup could be detrimental to Fox News. But in view of the need for Trump's attention, the president will have to find a network that will allow him this attitude. Another possibility is that Trump creates his own chain for the right-wing public who adores him.
Heather Hendershot, an MIT professor of film and media who studies conservative and right-wing media, notes that this possibility has been speculated in the past. In her opinion, it is unlikely as Trump is heavily in debt and he will likely have to deal with legal problems when he leaves the presidency.
OANN and Newsmax, which do not have Fox News' budget, would be options for Trump, but perhaps the president, who has had his fight with Fox News in the past, could still turn to the network again.
"I would dare to say that Trump will continue to promote the Trump brand, which has always been his thing, and will find a platform to do so, like Fox News or OANN," Hendershot notes.
"But who is going to pay him more to appear on the channel? Fox News. OANN is very poorly funded, they are on a low budget and not in enough cable channel packages.
Fox News undoubtedly survived Obama's arrival in 2012, and Hendershot believes the network is not in danger of disappearing. Fox could relive his golden age with a Democrat in the White House.
"The Biden presidency could benefit Fox," adds Hendershot. "It grows when it is an opposition medium. It did very well during the Obama presidency because it had a clear enemy to fight against."
Translated by Emma Reverter
