There’s been plenty of handwringing about what happens if CNN shifts to the political right under new ownership from Paramount Skydance. Some observers have wondered whether Fox News should be worried about a newly aggressive competitor fishing in the same ideological pond.
If you listen to FOX Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, though, that anxiety seems misplaced. Speaking Monday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, he made it clear that Fox News isn’t losing sleep over CNN.
“Under the Ellisons, CNN obviously will be a strong competitor, as we’d expect,” Murdoch said. “But we like competition, and we’ve proven over many years now that we can – running news is hard.”
He’s right. And not just because that’s what a CEO is supposed to say on a conference stage.
For starters, Murdoch isn’t going to publicly belittle CNN. That’s simply not his style. It’s also not how Fox News has positioned itself for three decades. Sure, the hosts may fire rhetorical arrows in primetime. The corporate tone, however, tends to project confidence rather than insecurity.
Taking cheap shots at a rival network during an investor conference would signal fear. Instead, Murdoch projected calm. That’s a message to Wall Street as much as it is to viewers.
Confidence is easier when you’ve got a 30-year head start. Fox News launched in 1996 and essentially created the modern conservative cable news category. CNN was already a legacy brand by then, but it wasn’t built around opinion-driven conservative programming. Fox News entered the arena and then defined it. That foundation matters.
Brand loyalty doesn’t materialize overnight. It’s built over decades of consistent messaging, talent development, and audience cultivation. Fox News has spent a generation refining its voice. Viewers know what they’re getting when they tune in. That consistency creates habit. Habit creates loyalty. Loyalty creates insulation from short-term competitive threats.
Meanwhile, the broader landscape isn’t exactly friendly to cable news. Audiences are leaving traditional television in droves. Cord-cutting continues to chip away at distribution. Just yesterday, DISH Network’s parent company revealed a loss of nearly 170,000 subscribers in just the fourth quarter. In that climate, growth is rare. Yet Fox News has managed to expand both ratings and revenue. That’s not supposed to happen. In many ways, it’s borderline miraculous.
Part of that success comes from focus. Fox News understands its core audience. It programs directly to that base without apology. It’s not chasing every passing trend. It’s not rebranding every election cycle. That steadiness builds trust with viewers who feel underserved elsewhere. Even if CNN were to shift rightward under new leadership, it would still be playing catch-up in that specific lane.
History shows Fox News can withstand turbulence. High-profile departures have rocked the network before. When Tucker Carlson exited in a dramatic split, critics predicted disaster. The same doom-and-gloom surrounded the ousters of Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes. Each episode generated headlines, lawsuits, and endless commentary. Each time, the network recalibrated and moved forward. Ratings stabilized. Revenue streams held. The brand endured.
Controversy hasn’t been a stranger to Fox News. Political backlash, advertiser boycotts, and internal upheaval have all tested the operation. Those storms would have capsized a weaker enterprise. Instead, Fox News emerged more streamlined and, in many cases, more focused. That resilience becomes a competitive advantage. It signals to viewers and investors that the institution is bigger than any single personality.
So would a rightward shift at CNN suddenly erode that base? It’s hard to see how. CNN would face its own balancing act. Moving too aggressively risks alienating its existing audience. Moving too cautiously fails to capture new viewers. Repositioning a decades-old global news brand isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Murdoch’s comment that “running news is hard” wasn’t a throwaway line. It was a reminder that execution matters more than aspiration.
Competition can sharpen even the biggest behemoths. It can force innovation. It can also validate a category’s relevance. If CNN leans right, it arguably affirms the strength of the conservative audience Fox News has cultivated. Rather than panicking, Fox News can lean into what it already does well. That’s a far more comfortable posture than scrambling to reinvent itself.
None of this guarantees perpetual dominance. History is littered with fallen giants (looking at you, Blockbuster, Sears & Roebuck, and Kodak). Complacency is always a risk. Still, Fox News has demonstrated an ability to adapt within its lane. Those moves don’t suggest a company bracing for an existential threat.
Murdoch’s remarks weren’t bluster. Fox News has navigated scandals, talent shakeups, and industry disruption. Running news is hard. It has maintained a fiercely loyal audience through all of it. That’s not easily replicated by a competitor adjusting its ideological dial.
If CNN under the Ellisons becomes more right-leaning, it may well become a stronger competitor. Murdoch acknowledged as much. But I’d doubt it would become a legitimate challenger to Fox News.
Strength in the marketplace isn’t something to fear. It’s something to measure yourself against. And based on the past three decades, Fox News likely believes it measures up just fine.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
Actually, this is a great thought starter. I actually went down a rabbit hole of research from Conservative, Independent and Democratic groups. A couple of things showed up. Fox News has always been conservative, but was more embraced by moderates when it first came on. Several studies identified that FNC has moved to a “Substantial Conservative Slant” over the past 30 years. It has also decreased the actual “news” reporting by over 60%, while increasing its pundit opinion programming has tripled. FNC, at its inception, was seen as more moderate right lean programming vs today being a more conservative right-wing source. Why they might be vulnerable is similar to a station that morphes it programming to become more specialized. Many times in doing that, it leaves a hole. With its current audience being a third staunch Republicans, it also draws 10% of Independents, and 25% of Democrats. If CNN were to adjust from being the most “centrist” of the 3 main news outlets (Fox, CNN, MSNOW), it could pick up some of those independents and Democrats who are curious about conservative politics without going to the far right side. Right now, out of all the conservative brands (FOX, OAN, NewsMax), Fox is the most digestible for those who don’t align with right-wing politics. CNN would be seen by those of a curious nature as the most viewable of the conservative media. Leaving Fox in what I call a “Black Hole Spiral”. Meaning they can’t escape their core, and as they program more to that core, they keep losing fringe until they program themselves into a much smaller, loyal audience that only cares to be fed their beliefs, not the facts. If Fox fights to include moderate conservatives along with their hardline conservatives, that is where their 30 year head start will be the advantage. Create the Points of Parity with potential CNN viewers while protecting their points of differentiation with their established core. Either way, it will be fun to watch! Great article!
We could use a REAL NEWS CNN channel, no spin, no lean, just FACTS (in short supply these days). Most of all…no OPINION…FACTS please!