Analysis: Fox News has Peaked

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

I get a sense that the haven for conservative hosts, and viewers alienated by liberal news, needs to figure out its next act. At times recently, the network has appeared uncertain about its focus. Its primary-night coverage has felt staid and listless.

Maybe even more galling, the network has lately faded in the ephemeral category of buzz. MSNBC - with far fewer viewers - has been the political-media obsession of the 2008 primary, largely because of feuds between the Clinton campaign and the network for its perceived pro-Obama bias. Ratings shmatings: if a Rupert Murdoch network cannot dominate the field of ticking off the Clintons, that has to sting.

Read the whole thing (warning -- pdf file):

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/TIME_Poniewozik_-_4.7.08.pdf

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. MALLARD

that said, interesting but we are being premature.

If anything the right is good at remaking itself

[physioex]

2. True....

But hopefully the good old days of people like El Drugbo monopolizing the airwaves are long gone. The internets have come on the scene and we can turn to blogs like DU for news and analysis. My hope for the future is more decentralized news with more individuals and non-profits.

[MADem]

3. I suspect they are going to start retooling. They got rid of that white haired little Nazi

finally, now they'll need to start adding more centrist and moderate talking heads, and maybe even a "screamin' lefty" for balance.

I don't know why I think that--I just have a feeling. I never watch them, either (save the YOUTUBE clips that people here point me to) but I just get the sense that Old Murdoch isn't a fool. He knows how to make money, and he doesn't give a shit about ideology--his real focus is the bottom line. So long as he can ka-ching, he is happy:

News on Fox looks
like a video game, full of bluster, blondes
and blaring graphics. Ideology aside,
Fox makes the news urgent, even when
nothing’s going on.
But for better or for worse, Fox became the
signal cultural artifact of the Bush era, so
it will need to remodel itself again. A President
McCain could actually represent the
trickiest shift. No matter how he has repositioned
himself since 2000, he’s still
the Republican
who knocked Rumsfeld
and criticized 24, on Fox’s sibling
broadcast network, for
glamorizing torture. Worst of
all, the “liberal media” like
him, which would play havoc
with Fox’s us-vs.-them, fairand-balanced
formula.
And if a Democrat wins? A
Clinton restoration would give
Fox the devil—or demonized
figure—it knows. But TV abhors
a rerun, and the challenge
would be to make it fresh. As
for Obama, the network is still
figuring out how to palatably
antagonize him. While the
Jeremiah Wright story was a
gift—Fox turned him into a
dashiki-clad screen saver—
Fox’s Chris Wallace embarrassingly
chastised the hosts of Fox
and Friends on-air for “distorting” Obama’s
words. And Bill O’Reilly caught flak for
using the phrase “lynching party” in a
critique of Michelle Obama.
As it wades through the fin de régime,
Fox News will have one important asset:
its loyal viewer base. But even for them,
it will need to shake up its comfortable
Bush-era routine, perhaps by cultivating
new hosts, perhaps by taking a page from
McCain and branding itself as the channel
of maverick authenticity, not of establishment
dogma. The viewers are Fox’s to
keep. It just has to figure out what’s going
to make them mad starting in 2009. ....

[anamandujano]

4. "MSNBC - with far fewer viewers" --key words right here

Viewers = the percentage of the country you have access to (for brainwashing, needless to say). So, Fox wins.

Having said that, I haven't watched Fox or MSNBC for years and years and am much better off for it.

They are both owned and operated by Repukes. That is all one needs to know.

[Thepricebreaker]

6. A TON less.. like 1/3 at the most...

[Swamp Rat]

5. This is FOX News on acid:

[Thepricebreaker]

7. Sucks they have he highest ratings doesnt it?

[Swamp Rat]

9. LOL!

[anonymous171]

8. Basically, with the Clinton's leaving the stage

Their political compass is being put on it's head. They don't know which angle is conservative or not.