Posted on 08/31/2012 8:30:38 AM PDT by Hojczyk
One of the most curious developments at the Republican convention took place far away from the delegate floor. Two events appeared for a short time to be part of the same story: the announcement of the “mystery speaker,” and the sudden cancellation of Sarah Palin’s interviews on Fox News.
Palin, the Republican Party’s previous VP nominee, would have provided some intriguing commentary on the night when her successor spoke, and so some — myself included — thought Palin’s spots must have been canceled because she had become a participant in this convention. When it became clear that Clint Eastwood had agreed to speak, it left many of us wondering exactly why Palin’s Fox appearances had been canceled at the time when she had the most value as a commentator.
New York Magazine reported yesterday that the cancellations were due to a power play in contract negotiations, and that Palin might find herself in search of a new platform:
Essentially, Palin and Fox are in the early stages of an elaborate contract negotiation. Palin earns roughly $1 million per year from Fox, making her the highest paid contributor at the network. Fox executives have been disappointed with her ratings; Palin has been disappointed by Fox’s decision to not give her top billing on bookings. According to sources, the relationship at times has gotten so bad that much communication has been conducted via Palin’s husband Todd.
One thing is clear: It’s risky for her to push the envelope too far. Fox has been a central pillar of Palin’s national reach since quitting the governorship, and without the network’s platform, it’s unclear how she could maintain even her current, much-diminished level of visibility.
Palin’s Facebook outburst surely didn’t endear her to Roger Ailes, who prizes message discipline and loyalty among his troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
No other cable net would even give her the time of day.
Perhaps she’ll pull a Glenn Beck and become a webcast.
LLS
What a load of crap! This is the person who can tweet or write a Facebook note and still get covered by every media outlet from Peoria to Pakistan, from Beijing to Bakersfield. She needs Fox News like a fish needs a unicycle. What a laff!!
I want a President who negotiates at least as hard with Vladimir Putin as she does with Fox News.
The ONLY time I watch Fox is when Sarah is on, how is that for ratings Roger Ailes.
bttt
Palin is a conservative and conservatism is being pushed aside once again for the moderates and RINOs. The Romney people don’t want her in the light because she will call out Mitt’s liberal leanings.
Boy you said it LibLieS. I stopped watching faux some time ago. Of course I watch none of the others. I just do my own research Online. Fox is just a tool of the GOP Elite. How you think we ended up with Romney and so many “conservatives” are rabid to elect him at any cost? Talk about lemmings over the cliff.
It would benefit Palin to distance herself from Fox News. Real conservatives do not watch Fox News anymore...it is mainly PhonyCons who watch.
What are you talking about? Piers Morgan immediately publicly invited her on his show that night!
The first night of the convention pulled about the same audience as in 2008, but Ryan’s night was down almost one half from Palin’s—20 million down from 37 million!
Ailes has been trying to figure out a painless way to dump Palin ever since Tucson. As Ed said, he can’t do it without incurring serious damage at Fox, as was demonstrated then other night when he had to put her back on after her FB post exposed what was going on.
She’s likely to have a rough go of it in the future because she complains about her treatment on Facebook whenever she has a disagreement with management. That’s not a smart thing to do if one wants to keep one’s job, and it doesn’t take an Einstein to see that.
Of course, she may be trying to get out of the Fox contract, but her FB behavior of the past few days will keep others from hiring a public complainer. Maybe she has no intention of staying in the commentary business?
FoxNews really lost me these past two years with its shift. The network used to practically be the default position on my tv-set, going back to when it first started around 1996. But wow, right after the 2010 mid-terms, they dropped all the Tea Party stories, and the border/illegals issue, started treating Palin like crap, then later went scorched-earth on Newt, and downplayed or ignored every ‘social conservative’ brushfire like homo-marriage. It was like a bloomin’ purge. And it coincided when Rove became a non-stop fixture.
Anyway, my viewership cratered, to put it mildly. I really have a very difficult time stomaching the channel nowadays, and probably only catch no more than 30-minutes a week. At most. A far, far cry from earlier days. Usually only take a look when I happen to run across an interview with someone I particularly like, such as Palin, Allen West, Michelle Malkin, and such. Otherwise, I steer clear.
Palin’s demeanor on FOX has been subdued for some time, seemingly
almost depressed. A million a year for that gets hard to justify. Flame away.
Sarah has been shut out and shut down, left unable to bring any breaking news to the table, no new insights particularly, no cutting edge analysis because she has been banished away from all the real action, left out of the political loop entirely, unable to chum with the pivotal players, the new and fresh faces. It follows that her energy would sag.
FOX has succeeded in making her a footnote and I think she realizes it.
I tend to agree with the author that without Fox, Palin will have a difficult time finding a national venue. Beck's thing has topped at about 200,000 viewers (down from his Fox high of 3.3m.
But I guess we won't know until or unless someone gives her a show. I do think she would be very effective in an Oprah-type format, but it would have to be more than just politics.
AMEN!!
I've taken the liberty of forwarding your 'sound advice' < /sarc> to Sarah & Todd for their consideration.
I'm sure it will be appreciated.< /sarc>
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