Posted on 01/16/2005 5:29:37 AM PST by Dane
Victory With a Swagger
Fox News’ 'Smash-Mouth’ Journalism Has Resulted in Intense Attacks, Rising Ratings and a Loyal Base
By Michael Grebb
It’s good to be the king . When touring Fox News Channel’s Manhattan headquarters, that famous Mel Brooks punch line seems to resonate.
In the basement of the News Corp. building in midtown Manhattan (known affectionately as “the dungeon” by those who work there), hundreds of Fox News staffers toil in blocks of cubicles. Yet they seem strangely ... happy .
People greet each other, back-slapping as they rush past. They eat lunch at their desks, eager to monitor the latest news event as they inhale deli sandwiches. The place just exudes a certain confidence. A certain swagger. A certain knowledge that what started in 1996 as a much-ridiculed alternative to the then-dominant Cable News Network has since become a major force in disseminating news to the American public.
Shepard Smith contemplates this reality as he leans back in his chair in the dungeon conference room. The anchor of Fox News’s signature evening newscast, The Fox Report, can’t help noting how the channel’s early naysayers and current detractors are now faced with a hard truth: It is most definitely the cable news ratings leader.
“Roger told us at the very beginning that this was going to happen, and he was right,” says Smith, referring to Fox News Channel chairman Roger Ailes. “He said, 'Not only is this going to work, but when you get to the top of the mountain, everyone down below you is going to be taking shots at you, and it’s going to be painful.’ ”
Indeed, Fox News has been the target of barbs since its inception. Its popular slate of opinion shows featuring hosts many peg as conservative-leaning has given ammunition to its critics. This year, the liberal group MoveOn.org even helped finance a film, Outfoxed , about what it perceives as the channel’s conservative bias.
Smith says that while some viewers may watch the network for conservative opinion not found elsewhere, Fox News’s detractors just don’t understand the separation between opinion and news on the network.
“The moment these people ever start telling me, 'You need to start skewing the news to an audience,’ is the last day I work here,” Smith says. “It would never happen.”
As its enemies turn up the heat, Fox seems to grow only stronger, as its loyal base digs in and new viewers watch to find out what all the fuss is about. To the chagrin of its critics, many who find Fox News stick with it.
In December, the Nielsen Homevideo Index ranked the network No. 8 among all cable channels in total viewership, putting it far ahead of CNN and MSNBC, according to Nielsen data supplied by Fox News. In fact, CNN hasn’t led Fox News in the overall cable-news ratings since December 2001.
The people who work at Fox News — both on-air and behind-the-scenes — talk about high morale and stability as keys to its ratings success in recent years. As competitors dealt with mergers and corporate meddling, some credit Ailes with largely protecting the channel from similar tinkering from News Corp. The theory is that happy employees make for a stronger newscast.
“Because of the way the place is run, we all focus on our jobs, and I think that pushes out to the viewers,” says Greta Van Susteren, host of Fox News’s On The Record . “Roger has made us feel safe and that our jobs are safe, so we concentrate on our jobs.”
Van Susteren says it’s quite a contrast from her last days at CNN. “I don’t spend any portion of my day wondering who I work for, listening to gossip, what show’s going to get cancelled, who’s getting fired, who’s coming in.”
Van Susteren, who works out of a modest office in Fox News’s Washington, D.C., bureau, says the camaraderie runs deep. She jokes about the time she sent an e-mail message to Shepard Smith when Nick Nolte was arrested for driving under the influence in September 2002, commenting that his mug shot resembled one of her “bad hair days.”
Smith read it on the air. (“She shouldn’t send me e-mails,” Smith quips.)
Such joshing among friends is common at Fox News and often finds its way onto the screen, along with the kind of conflict and debate that keeps people watching.
“It’s a smash-mouth form of journalism that’s very entertaining,” says Matthew Felling, media director at the Center for Media and Public Affairs. “It’s aggressive, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. Whether it advances the debate at all is up for argument.”
What’s not up for debate is that Fox News has found a formula that works when it comes to beating its cable competition in the ratings.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Smith says. “We don’t make apologies for graphics and whooshes and excitement and all of that stuff because if that will bring you to the news that we’ve spent all day or all week or all month preparing, then more power to it. I’ll put anything up there to get them to watch.”
People will soon be listening as well: In December, Clear Channel Communications Inc., the No. 1 U.S. owner of radio stations, announced it would dump ABC News Radio’s newscasts in favor of Fox News Radio. Meanwhile, Fox News Channel continues to survey the landscape from the top of the mountain.
Ah, yes. It’s good to be the king .
Yes, the rest of liberal media prefers adherence to news tightly wrapped in their dogma. Opposing views have a nasty habit of disturbing the package.
LOL!
All your logos are belong to us :-)
(btw, I believe in TV jargon its called a 'Frog')
I tend to agree but these hosts and commentators do give the left equal time when there is debate, unlike the old media, for example a panel consisting of two liberals and one conservative.
I agree with you there. Liberal guests get equal time on FNC. Compare with shows like Today, who on many issues will only have a guest from the liberal side of the question.
That was the best part of the article!
That abc news at the top of the hour was insufferably libspinful. I've loathed it for years.
See you later abc/disney "news", you've been rathered.
AC
Neil Cavuto, Brit Hume and David Asman...... need I say more?
Yes same here, FNC logo is burned in the screen of my big screen TV. In fact I sent emails to the asking if they can add animation to the logo, a short time later it started revolving. Don't think they did that just for me.
I don't even know what channels the "Big 3" networks are on anymore. I do skip over to MSNBC to watch (and laugh) at Hardball now and then, or over to CNN to oogle Rudi Bakhtiar... ;)
CRAP.
Even if it were true, they would still provide overall balance in the universe of media coverage.
Besides, other than telling the truth and playing by the rules, exactly what is "right wing bias?"
Re: #14
No, but you must be able to accommodate those in wheel chairs!
Directions in braille would also be a nice touch!.....
I think Fox has an obligation to look at what others are reporting and deliberately go out of its way to ask, "Should we be covering other stories? Other angles? Is this really news?" The answers are often surprising.
For ex., say for a moment that the Bush/TANG story was in fact true. What real difference would it have made? In "normal" circumstances, an objective and honest news network wouldn't have given that more than a throwaway line in some weekday newscast, and that would have been it. My point is, since bias is in part shaped by story SELECTION---not just "framing" stories or "slanting" them after they are selected---then Fox has to be vigilant to select "fair and balanced stories."
This shows up most recently in Iraq, where we ONLY hear (even from Fox, often) about the latest bomb, but not the 99% of the cities that are calm, where power is on, where people are going to school and work, and where the tiny seeds of liberty and democracy are taking root.
"It has always been an amazing contrast on my local AM to listen to Rush, or Hannity,
then during break go to the ABC biased laden news report. I wondered how long it could go on."
I know what you mean. We have 2 (that I'm aware of) 'conservative' talk radio stations(KVI and KTTH)in the Seattle area. Sean and Tony Snow are on KVI and Rush and Michael Medved moved to KTTH some time ago. KTTH has ABC News (yuck); We got a break several months ago. KVI and Fox News are working together (it's called talk radio and Fox News)- -think they said this was the only station in the country that included Fox News. Maybe a pilot for what was to come. The news breaks include the Fox News top of the hour news breaks and local news - -it's great!
The only thing I don't like is that they have the Alan Colmes show on in the evening (not sure if it's a replay) - but I just switch to something else.
NPR ... US Soldiers killed 7 civilians witnesses in the small village say the attack was unprovoked. US Marine Headquarters claims the soldiers were fired on first.
FOX News.. 7 Civilians were killed after US Marines came under fire in a local village
The more accurate report depends on weather you believe US Marines routinely massacre Iraq civilians.
Since they do not then clearly the FOX account is less biased and more objective.
AS for me, Brit Hume is my number one reason for watching Fox News.
You forgot the obligatory picture.
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