I open with a serious challenge. I dare you to read these two books on Rupert Murdoch and his Fox “News” empire with an open mind. Two recent releases on Fox News, Brian Stelter’s Network of Lies and Michael Wolf’s The Fall summarize why Fox is a clear and present danger to democracy and has destroyed media credibility, not only among the right-wing media, but across the board.
Fox News is revered in some sections of the broadcast landscape and by many who write and read on this site, because it is successful, and too many here value ratings above all else. Fox News is the number one cable network, but it remains far behind the broadcast networks that cater to a more mainstream audience.
But as these two books show, the formula for the Fox News success is basic: Carve an audience from the disaffected, the same 35 to 40% of the general public that support Donald Trump, and cater to that echo chamber. 35 to 40% is not enough to win an election, but its plenty to win a ratings battle in this fragmented market. While CNN and MSNBC split the left and mainstream audience, Fox News, until recently had the right to itself.
Brian Stelter’s book goes deep into the ways the network has attempted to hold on to that audience, first when Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and then in the aftermath when others from the right challenged Fox News for dominance. The result led to the network cooling on Trump and Rupert Murdoch labeling him a “loser”.
Fox News learned quickly it only took a few weeks of trying to exalt Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to frontrunner to see the ratings slip. The ultimate lesson for the cable channel was not to educate its viewers and bring them along to what they now knew: That Donald Trump is a sore loser, and his candidates across the board were losing as well.
There was no effort to carry the enlightening January 6th Congressional hearings or bring on moderate Republicans who wanted to save the party. Instead, Fox News quickly swung back to the right, follwing their audience, not leading it.
This is a fundamental decision by the Murdoch-operated network which thrust the outlet even further away from news or journalism, and towards cheerleader commentary. Fox News decided, as their Dominion lawsuit discovery revealed, to hide its true knowledge and feelings about Donald Trump and broadcast repeated lies its audience preferred to hear. It was a business decision, not a journalism decision.
Now, in normal newsrooms — where I have worked for 4 decades — there was a divide between the sales department and the journalists. But in this case, as Stelter reveals, Fox News was nearly the opposite. Management from Rupert Murdoch on down had cooled on Trump, and while Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and others “hated” him as well, (according to their subpoenaed text messages and emails) they led the charge back into the Trump camp as soon as they saw the numbers dropping.
True journalists are willing to go to unpopular places, take heat from one side, or both sides to report the truth. But not Fox News.
Both management and anchors, producers, and many reporters are either ordered, or willingly slink to not following the news, but instead following their audience. A decision that has kept Fox profitable, but damaged the media landscape and led to distrust of all outlets.
Michael Wolf’s book traces the Murdoch family’s entry into American journalism and the damage it has done. It also takes a look into the future of Murdoch’s news empire with him gone. This tandem of tomes should leave readers with thorough disgust, not reverence for a successful, but destructive organization.
Go on, I dare you to read.
Jim Avila previously served as a weekly columnist for Barrett News Media. An Award-winning journalist with four decades of reporting and anchoring experience, Jim worked as Senior National Correspondent, 20/20 Correspondent, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Prior to his time with ABC, he spent a decade with NBC News, and worked locally in Los Angeles and Chicago for KNBC, and WBBM. He can be found on Twitter @JimAvilaABC.
