Yeah, my historical take on Fox is that while the network has always been very focused on ratings with their commentary side, and has targeted a political base since its inception, their reporting side was always top-notch, and managed to ground a good chunk of the commentary side. It might be hard to remember now, but Chris Wallace was …
Yeah, my historical take on Fox is that while the network has always been very focused on ratings with their commentary side, and has targeted a political base since its inception, their reporting side was always top-notch, and managed to ground a good chunk of the commentary side. It might be hard to remember now, but Chris Wallace was once quite revered by Fox commentators and the audience alike as someone who gave Fox journalistic credibility.
But in the much more tribal Trump era, the reporting side came to be seen as obstructionists to the increasingly irresponsible commentary side. And the network, as a whole, went from being "very focused on ratings" to entirely deferential to them... even at the cost of the most basic of journalistic standards. The commentary wing expanded, and the news wing shrank. And sadly, a monster was created.
I think there are some popular right-wing commentators out there, like Ben Shapiro, who despite being too "own the libs" for my taste, would be much healthier for Fox in that hour than Tucker was, and probably pull the same (if not higher) ratings.
Yeah, my historical take on Fox is that while the network has always been very focused on ratings with their commentary side, and has targeted a political base since its inception, their reporting side was always top-notch, and managed to ground a good chunk of the commentary side. It might be hard to remember now, but Chris Wallace was once quite revered by Fox commentators and the audience alike as someone who gave Fox journalistic credibility.
But in the much more tribal Trump era, the reporting side came to be seen as obstructionists to the increasingly irresponsible commentary side. And the network, as a whole, went from being "very focused on ratings" to entirely deferential to them... even at the cost of the most basic of journalistic standards. The commentary wing expanded, and the news wing shrank. And sadly, a monster was created.
I think there are some popular right-wing commentators out there, like Ben Shapiro, who despite being too "own the libs" for my taste, would be much healthier for Fox in that hour than Tucker was, and probably pull the same (if not higher) ratings.