Eight years later, the Rupert Murdoch-owned network garners more primetime viewers than CNN and the other major cable news broadcaster, MSNBC, combined.
Like a bug.
Like a huge, radiation-effected, Japanese-horror-film, collosal and ravaging bug.
Posted on 09/30/2004 9:26:35 AM PDT by MaineRepublic
NEW YORK (AFP) - When the Fox News Channel came on air in 1996, CNN founder Ted Turner vowed to crush the brash new rival for the US 24-hour cable news market "like a bug."
Eight years later, the Rupert Murdoch-owned network garners more primetime viewers than CNN and the other major cable news broadcaster, MSNBC, combined.
Fox's rise to prominence has been viewed with alarm by its detractors who see the network as the flagship of a resurgent right-wing media machine, backed on the radiowaves by ultra-conservative talk show hosts and in print by newspapers like the Murdoch-owned New York Post.
While firmly rejecting the conservative label, Fox embraces its image as the scourge of the media "establishment" -- embodied by the likes of the three broadcast networks and the New York Times -- which it accuses of a long-term liberal bias.
"The traditional media in this country is in tune with the elite, not the people," Murdoch told Editor and Publisher last week. "That is why we're not liked by the traditional media. That's not us."
Fox mixes it's straight news coverage with populist opinion-led programming, such as the "The O'Reilly Factor" -- now the top rated cable news show in the country -- hosted by the unabashedly conservative and pro-Republican Bill O'Reilly.
If the traditionalists dismiss Fox and the pugilistic radio talk show kings as populist purveyors of right-wing propaganda, they are unable to deny their appeal and influence.
"Whether you love or hate these guys, they can make for compelling entertainment," said Robert Thompson, director of the department of pop culture and television at Syracuse University.
"And that is why you get a lot of people who disagree with them as regular listeners and viewers, just as you've got their core audience that agrees with them," Thompson said.
According to a June report by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the number of Americans who regularly watch Fox News has increased by nearly half since 2000 from 17 percent to 25 percent.
Fox's vitality, the report said, is partly attributable to another significant change in the media landscape -- the fact that political polarization is increasingly reflected in the public's news viewing habits.
More than half (52 percent) of regular Fox viewers describe themselves as politically conservative, up from 40 percent four years ago.
Todd Gitlin, a professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, traces the rise of the conservative media back to the social upheavals of the 1960s and the recognition among ideologues on the Right that they had lost control of major cultural institutions.
"So they started building an infrastructure, endowing chairs at colleges, starting think tanks, underwriting conservative college newspapers ... and then came the proliferation of the talk shows in the 1980s," Gitlin said.
"What has to be said for the right is that they understood there was a large market niche which meant they could have it all -- political influence and commercial prosperity," he added.
The substantial size of the market is undeniable. A Gallup poll in October last year found that 45 percent of Americans believe the news media is "too liberal."
Combine that with the 43 percent who, according to the Pew report, prefer news that suits their point of view, and the foundations for Fox's success become more apparent.
With the country so divided along political lines ahead of November's presidential election, partisanship is colouring American culture like never before.
A Time magazine cover story this month titled "Blue Truth, Red Truth" suggests Americans live in parallel political worlds, searching out and consuming the spin that suits their Democrat or Republican leanings.
"Red Truth looks at Bush and sees a saviour; Blue Truth sees a zealot who must be stopped," the magazine said. "This is where we live now ... the traditional heralds compete with the authors and bloggers and filmmakers and cable barkers and radio rabble rousers who appeal to those who tailor the news to fit their political niche."
While Fox was created to corrected a perceived media slant to the Left, liberals are now making moves to counter what they see as the new imbalance to the Right.
Air America, a syndicated radio network with a strongly liberal flavour, hit the airwaves in April and former vice-president Al Gore (news - web sites) is backing moves to launch a liberal cable news outlet.
I don't think they asked him.
These people just don't get it. Liberals have their outlet on every other channel besides Fox News. That is why Air America is failing miserably.
Where was the BARF ALERT!!!!
They just don't get it. Consumers make or break the industry. Apparently they aren't looking at Rather's plummeting ratings.
"hosted by the unabashedly conservative and pro-Republican Bill O'Reilly. "
Say What???
"We have no need to obtain actual facts. We will inform you of what you need to think. Just pay attention to how we label people and institutions."
Sincerely,
Main Stream Media
So, I guess they found out. All of the secret meetings and plans by the Right to take everything back. Give me a break! Everything is a conspiracy to these people. They can't accept the fact that Americans in general, are sick of the bias in the press and the move to Fox News is because of that.
What in the hell is a traditionalist?
the ratings decline will kill Rather & cBS quicker than anything else.....the advert money will head elsewhere
Does anyone have a list of these right-wing sponsored university chairs?
RG
Eight years later, the Rupert Murdoch-owned network garners more primetime viewers than CNN and the other major cable news broadcaster, MSNBC, combined.
Like a bug.
Like a huge, radiation-effected, Japanese-horror-film, collosal and ravaging bug.
Ted Turner?
Never heard of him.
former vice-president Al Gore (news - web sites) is backing moves to launch a liberal cable news outlet.Uh-huh, this makes sense. The mighty goreon is gonna jump in the pit with CNBC, MSNBC and CNN.
Al baby, you'd be much better off supporting a conservative cable network 'cause then you'd have just one competitor instead of 3 or 4.
goreon the moron!
...Al Gore (news - web sites) is backing moves to launch a liberal cable news outlet...
Yet another one???
This piece didn't need a barf alert, it needed a laugh alert. :-)
REPORT what happened, who it happened to, where and when it happened, and let the public decide what it means. Seems REAL simple to me but, apparently, unfathomable to them.
When MSM changes the propaganda depending on political gain, journalists are frauds. Just give us the facts, please.
They connected the dots in 1998 but Senator Kerry and MSM can't seem to connect the dots in 2004.
"Connect the Dots...Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden"
...With the country so divided along political lines ahead of November's presidential election, partisanship is colouring American culture like never before...
Well, we will just have to wait and see in Nov. just how divided the country is won't we.
And speaking of divided, was't that 9 little democrats we saw scrapping for the nomination this year?
I'd like to see that liberal slanted Cable News network they're talking about. Imagine having all the giants in one place. James Carville, Paul Begala, Susan Estrich, George Stephannopolis, Chris Matthews, Ron Reagan, Bill Maher, and of course, Dan Rather. Al Gore and John Kerry could even team up for a primtime slot. So could Al Sharpton and Charlie Rangel. What about Jesse Jackson? Wow! They would crush Fox News.
Hahaha.
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