Fox News vs. Everyone Else
A few weeks ago, after it was announced that John Stossel was going to Fox News, I wrote that conservative commentators are flocking to Fox News far too often at the detriment of the country. Now it appears that CNN?s Lou Dobbs is being eyed by Fox Business. I’ll repeat what I said then: conservative voices on Fox News are going to absolutely destroy all other TV stations in ratings, money and every other category?except for influence. Yes, Dobbs, Stossel and others will bring some of their fans and followers from the other stations over?but the majority non-conservative viewers won?t follow. For example, Stossel?s 20/20 had over six million viewers last year- almost twice as many as long-time cable kind Bill O?Reilly. Yet there is no speculation that O?Reilly would lose ground to Stossel in the four hours a week Stossel is anticipated to be on the tube.
Obviously, Fox holds the top ratings in cable slots, and does well in non-cable viewing. However, given that nearly every news and entertainment station besides Fox is more liberally-biased (such as GE’s NBC, ABC, Ted Turner’s CNN and Comedy Central), conservatives are going to lose out in the grand scheme of things. Influence, as opposed to power, is increasingly in the liberals’ favor on TV. To paraphrase an acquaintance, conservatives need to infiltrate everywhere, because flocking to Fox will not bring lasting electoral or cultural change to America.
There may, however, be hope yet for conservatives to influence moderates and liberals through the medium of television. Continuing the current Democratic habit of personally targeting those who displease them (see Rep. Waxman’s heavy-handed letters to insurance companies, President Obama’s comments in January about Rush Limbaugh, the White House’s targeting of Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli and the AIG tax attack this spring for just a few examples), President Obama?s White House has decided to essentially declare war on Fox News, and nothing breeds viewers in the USA like controversy. This may be the last best chance for conservatives on television to really draw in the non-conservatives so crucial to winning elections in America, as well as to influence the national mindset regarding the place and size of government, military action, social values etc. I fear, however, that aggressive, activist-engaging voices will continue to dominate Fox news, and few enough George Wills, Jonah Goldbergs and Charles Krauthammers (one quick note: the latter IS on Fox every weeknight) will be on hand to build the kind of coalition that can last for the next generation.
