The 61% Solution

Foxit is in full swing and what had been the number one news network for twenty years is now pretty much even with CNN’s numbers.

“Lachlan Murdoch, speaking to investors on Election Day, suggested that even the nation’s most watched cable news outlet — his own — may see some portion of the audience dissipate (though he assured Wall Streeters that Fox News Channel would maintain the lion’s share of the remaining news crowd). “I would expect as we enter a more normal news cycle, which has to happen eventually, that appetite for news will shift back to appetite for the great American pastimes of watching football, and watching baseball, and watching ‘The Masked Singer’ or ‘I Can See Your Voice,’ and we look forward to that shift,” said Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News’ parent, Fox Corp.”

Yeah, about that Lachlan…

Ultimately, the news business is about trust. Do you trust the guy on the lobotomy-box to be telling you the truth?

Roger Ailles liked to say that Fox News appealed to a niche market…half the country.

The rest of the media divided up the other half into smaller niches. Both uninterested and unwilling to try and pursue Fox’s share. This was a sounder business strategy than you may think. The bigger Woker companies wouldn’t advertise on Fox in order to punish it and there is only so much ad money that foot powder companies can cough up.

But the bottomline is that trust was maintained by all of those news companies with their respective niches.

Rupert Murdoch appears to have been the kind of guy that spent too much time in the office. He should have come home early a couple days of the week. Maybe he should have provided his sons with something more than “the best education money can buy.” Maybe he should have given them his values.

Regardless, Lachlan Murdoch is very definitely a Leftie. His wife was squealing, “we did it!” After the theft of the election was announced. When daddy gave him the keys to the office, Lachlan decided to try and fool the audience he both panders to and despises. The strategy was fake Right and swerve Left.

Brit Hume was “retired” and Chris Wallace was put in the anchor chair. He would captain a news team that would present the usual Left wing biased news but with screaming eagle graphics and country music bumpers. Meanwhile the rubes were to be kept happy with the opinion desks lead by Tucker Carlson.

Trust was frequently strained during this period. In 2018, Fox called the House race early, this had the effect of being a self fulfilling prophecy as a lot of middle of the road Republicans didn’t bother to vote for, (what the news source they trusted had declared to be) a lost cause. There were other and more frequent bouts of teeth grinding on the Right over the next two years. George Soros’ name was not be mentioned in any way shape or form. Chris Wallace’s distinct hostility to a President that had done more for the Right wing than anyone else in the past 100 years, was a constant spray of lemon juice in an open cut.

But the prevailing attitude on the Right was that, sure, Fox is crap but it’s Our Crap.

That belief ended on Election Night when Fox News shattered our trust. Calling Arizona early was interpreted as a deliberate attempt at voter suppression in a key state.

It was no longer Our Crap. It is Their Crap.

Ratings have cratered and a crisis management PR team has been brought in to try and calm the rubes down. The attitude at Fox is reportedly one of, this will all blow over in a few weeks.

No. It won’t. Not this time. As I said, the news business is built on trust and once that trust is broken there is no gluing it back to together.

At the next earnings call it will be apparent to all of Fox Corp’s investors that the cash cow is dead in the field.

And that the Murdoch family only owns 39% of Fox.