To everything, turn, turn, turn . . .
Nov. 14th, 2008 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaSo, the question comes up, as it has in pretty much every blog since the election: whither Fox News?
On the one hand, something like 25% of the country still thinks Bush is doing a heckuva job. That's probably enough for Fox News to survive, with the rest of the TV-news-watching public splitting between CNN and MSNBC, and the rest of us tuning in the BBC on the radio instead. But Fox has made its way, these past eight years, by essentially being an unofficial cheerleader for the Bush administration, and to a lesser degree to the Republican party in a more general sense. It can't do that anymore. No one in the Obama administration is going to send them leaks. So what are they going to do?
I see two main options for them:
1) Go back to what they sort of were during the Clinton administration, and be the disloyal opposition - the television equivalent of right-wing talk radio. This pushes them back into their core demographic, and makes their position with the Republicans in Congress stable. It also puts them in the slightly awkward position of deliberately catering to an older, less diverse audience. That may be fine as far as their overall numbers are concerned, but advertisers are going to look for specific demographics - and the hot ones aren't going to be there. Younger viewers generally aren't watching television at all; they're certainly not going to gravitate to right-wing punditry that isn't even pretending to be news anymore. And there's the other problem; they'd pretty much have to be all editorial, no journalism.
2) Reposition themselves as a center-right, rather than clearly right-wing, news organization. Acknowledge and even play up their differences from the "liberal" news networks, but up their standard of research, and go for dirt on everyone, even the Republicans. Co-opt McCain's position as someone interested in transparency and reform, and play it as if it were a Republican position. Go for an imagined (or even real, although I don't think they're actually capable of cleaning up their act that much) high road. And for the love of Farnsworth, quit getting caught lying about crap.
Plan 1 has the benefit that they've been there before, they know how it works, and it's a comfortable place for them. Having said that, it's been rumored that Murdoch has been embarrassed at some of the crap they've pulled. Just guessing, at least one of their reporters - Shep Smith, the guy who was trying to shame Ralph Nader into taking back the "Uncle Tom" comment - looks like he's positioning himself for Plan 2, or at least paying lip service to the truth (as when he is clearly disgusted by Joe the Plumber's ignorant comments, and defending the entirety of the mainstream media against the right-wing whine machine; and can I just point out that I can hear Mississippi in his vowels still, and that fact amuses me no end?).
It would be interesting for them to decide that they can't just cede the younger demographic completely and try for the repositioning, although I don't know if that will actually work, considering their core demographic. It's more or less the same as the seismic shift facing the Republican party at the moment, with the added flavor that their corporate funding is even more direct - and those corporations can't afford to cede the young, trendy, and spendy, even if the network itself can.
On the one hand, something like 25% of the country still thinks Bush is doing a heckuva job. That's probably enough for Fox News to survive, with the rest of the TV-news-watching public splitting between CNN and MSNBC, and the rest of us tuning in the BBC on the radio instead. But Fox has made its way, these past eight years, by essentially being an unofficial cheerleader for the Bush administration, and to a lesser degree to the Republican party in a more general sense. It can't do that anymore. No one in the Obama administration is going to send them leaks. So what are they going to do?
I see two main options for them:
1) Go back to what they sort of were during the Clinton administration, and be the disloyal opposition - the television equivalent of right-wing talk radio. This pushes them back into their core demographic, and makes their position with the Republicans in Congress stable. It also puts them in the slightly awkward position of deliberately catering to an older, less diverse audience. That may be fine as far as their overall numbers are concerned, but advertisers are going to look for specific demographics - and the hot ones aren't going to be there. Younger viewers generally aren't watching television at all; they're certainly not going to gravitate to right-wing punditry that isn't even pretending to be news anymore. And there's the other problem; they'd pretty much have to be all editorial, no journalism.
2) Reposition themselves as a center-right, rather than clearly right-wing, news organization. Acknowledge and even play up their differences from the "liberal" news networks, but up their standard of research, and go for dirt on everyone, even the Republicans. Co-opt McCain's position as someone interested in transparency and reform, and play it as if it were a Republican position. Go for an imagined (or even real, although I don't think they're actually capable of cleaning up their act that much) high road. And for the love of Farnsworth, quit getting caught lying about crap.
Plan 1 has the benefit that they've been there before, they know how it works, and it's a comfortable place for them. Having said that, it's been rumored that Murdoch has been embarrassed at some of the crap they've pulled. Just guessing, at least one of their reporters - Shep Smith, the guy who was trying to shame Ralph Nader into taking back the "Uncle Tom" comment - looks like he's positioning himself for Plan 2, or at least paying lip service to the truth (as when he is clearly disgusted by Joe the Plumber's ignorant comments, and defending the entirety of the mainstream media against the right-wing whine machine; and can I just point out that I can hear Mississippi in his vowels still, and that fact amuses me no end?).
It would be interesting for them to decide that they can't just cede the younger demographic completely and try for the repositioning, although I don't know if that will actually work, considering their core demographic. It's more or less the same as the seismic shift facing the Republican party at the moment, with the added flavor that their corporate funding is even more direct - and those corporations can't afford to cede the young, trendy, and spendy, even if the network itself can.
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 02:21 pm (UTC)PS: Is that "8 Miles High" a cover of the Byrds' song?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 05:00 pm (UTC)There are many, many boomers in this country with money who do not watch television, get virtually all their news from the internet or radio, and would rather stick needles in their eyes than watch Fox news. Oh, and aren't conservative, either. I'm one, so is my partner, and so are hundreds of our friends. And thousands and thousands of theirs.
Just saying.
However, I do agree with your assessment of Fox. They want to make money, and they do not care how. That is their job. Not bad, not good, just their job.
I am sure they will find their niche market again. They always have been able to do that. If they can find a voice of reason and report it, that would be a very good thing, but I am not holding my breath, nor will I watch to find out.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-15 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 06:36 pm (UTC)We are, after all, many of us still what we were in the 60s and 70s - radical reformers who now have gray hair and suffer hot flashes. Too bad for the marketing people, I say. Silly mistake.
Of course I know that there are many conservative Boomers. There are many conservatives in every generation. They need their TV more than those of us with lives needs ours. They are welcome to it, imo.