Gabriel Sherman writes a column for the New York Magazine about the fallout to the terrible ratings from Megyn Kelly’s broadcast special premier, and how she has damaged her contract negotiating position with a poor result.
Sherman is a good read for some facts surrounding Fox News Insider stuff, but his analysis generally misses the mark because he’s inside the liberal NYC bubble; this article is no exception. Example: Sherman asserts that Rupert Murdoch is now supportive of Donald Trump… um, NO – that’s laughable.
Rupert “Open Borders” Murdoch who has spent millions supporting immigration reform, who has used his network to sell Jeb Bush/Marco Rubio, who held meetings with executives, politicians and pundits to ensure pro-immigration reform content, is NOT a supporter of Donald Trump….
[*Hint* Read Sherman for facts and events, but disregard analysis].
Fox News is currently working on a goal to inflate Hillary Clinton, through consistently pointing out the weaknesses of the alternative, Donald Trump. Another subtle approach is to sell the viability of a third party or libertarian option; the goal is the same – assist Hillary Clinton.
Absent of Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, Rupert Murdoch will has instructed Fox Political Executive Director, Bill Sammon (father of Marco Rubio campaign spox), to inflate Clinton. It’s just how Mr. Wall Street rolls,… I digress.
Regarding Megyn Kelly, I highly doubt she will remain at Fox News after this year when her contract expires, here’s why.
The Harper Collins book deal ($10 million) was a Rupert reward for services rendered; it was not leverage for future loyalty. Kelly tried earnestly to deliver the goals of Rupert, but couldn’t achieve them. Her adversary was too large, it wasn’t her fault, she deserved Murdoch’s compensation bonus for trying.
The key problem is Ms. Kelly thinks she is more valuable than she actually is. She holds an overly important impression of herself. However, it’s not all her fault, her ego was artificially boosted by her protege’, mentor and replacement father figure (her dad died when she was 15), Roger Ailes.
Ms. Kelly is loyal to her father-figure, Ailes, but Roger is not going to be at Fox much longer. Roger Ailes is in poor physical health, and he’s staring directly down the throat of defeat with Donald Trump having beaten him.
Between his wounded health and wounded ego, along with Rupert’s boys now dug into the network like ticks on a butchers dog, Ailes is on the way out.
You can see the organizational downward spiral already beginning in the way the network is delivering content. The executives can’t visibly see it, that’s why they hire focus groups, but the ratings and statistics are showing it – and we all know it because we are the largest most important focus group.
Roger Ailes is not going to be around much longer.
That means Princess Kelly will be a short-contract ship, looking for port, while journeying without an anchor.
The problem for Kelly is she rolled out her interpretation of the 2015 modern feminism, complete with endorsements on the angry woman power circuit, during a presidential election.
In doing so, effective July/August 2015, she ridiculed, isolated and marginalized half of her viewing base; however, that approach did earn her street cred with the liberal elements (who never watch Fox).
Megyn Kelly has defined herself as something antithetical to the viewership that Roger Ailes originally built. She’s not smart enough to pull off a duality, and everyone can see through the gender-motive transparency she now carries on her broadcasts.
In many ways Megyn Kelly and Glenn Beck share the same problem. They are both social progressives operating under the auspices of center-right presentation for financial benefit.
In this bizarre year of sunlight, which is causing SEVERE financial contraction for many pundits, don’t be surprised if Glenn Beck joins forces with the folks of Salon, Daily Beast, Huffington Post, or Facebook/Google/Yahoo/___fill_in_the_blank.
Meanwhile, if Ms. Kelly remains in 24/7 cable news, she’ll be on CNN next year – because MSNBC can’t write a big enough check.
