Fox News had a terrific run for 25 years, I’ll say that much. Whether it is over now, I don’t pretend to know, but I think the recent “damning moment” which occurred last week when it was revealed that internal emails and texts proved that the main players at Fox News never believed for a moment that the 2020 election was stolen, is going to dictate a course change at the very least.
And what might that course change entail? Fox News is between a rock and a hard place. They’ve got even farther right-wing outlets like Newsmax and OAN chasing them, but they still remain the main organ for right-wing outrage.
Democracy Now does an analysis of the situation which is worth watch. It runs a little over seven minutes.
The meaningful exchange which took place here was towards the end. This is all a financial matter to Fox News. That’s what Fox News is, is a money making machine. Other media outlets at least started out as legitimate news organizations, with profit a secondary consideration. Among networks, it’s well known that the news division loses money and that’s expected. Entertainment helps balance the books. Fox News, on the other hand, started out as what it is, a televised tabloid, designed to make a profit and gin up right-wing outrage.
The meaningful exchange I refer to has to do with the actual finances of this situation. Dominion is suing Fox for a billion and a half dollars. Fox has annual revenues of $14 billion so it may very well consider that paying out the $1.4, $1.6 billion, is actually going to be the cost of doing business. That’s a hit that Fox News can take and still stay in business.
It may be as simple as that. So what if you find yourself 10% broker one day than you were the day before, if you’re flying at that altitude? Elon Musk lost a lot of money buying Twitter but when you’re literally the richest man on the planet, you can put your ego and your personal whim above money.
If I had to guess at this point, I would guess that Fox News might well pay off Dominion, make them whole, and then go forward in the future somewhat chastened, but still in business.
Another alternative is that the Fairness Doctrine comes back into being and at this point, after 25 years of the madness we’ve endured without it, and the money that people have made off of its not being there, I don’t know if there’s a strong likelihood that would happen. We live in a culture where profit trumps morality, always. Unfortunate, but true.
Could Fux Noise survive The Fairness Doctrine coming back?
Time to bring it back.
The Fairness Doctrine applied to over the air broadcasters, and wouldn’t apply to satellite networks like Fox. The FCC currently cannot regulate such broadcasters.
Fox affiliates, like the other major networks are seen largely over cable and satelite BUT they still broadcast an over-the-air signal. Unless they want to create separate divisions, one for over-the-air and another with different news and political entertainment (their word for their evening lineup – not mine) so they can spew for the slime then they’d still be subject to regulation.
Their audience is dying off and they know it. My adult children do not watch broadcast or cable at all with the exception of some sports occasionally.
McCavein gave them the J6 tapes to help them keep viewers enthralled (and with the editing they’ll do, conned) so they’ll continue to make $$$ in the midst of the Dominican lawsuit. The GQP would have been relegated to the dust bin without Faux and their distortions and out right lies.
To paraphrase Emerson: men are more careful with their pocketbooks than their principles.