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If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax?

defrost 2y ago
Rupert Murdoch grew up in media, his father had a newspaper and (along with other adventures) tilted hard at the British Government over censorship of war news in WWI. With that as his launchpad he expanded from Australia to the UK and mastered the art of eating Fleet Street's lunch (stealing eyeballs from establishment newspapers). Recently, when Fox finally (temporarily) stopped supporting Trump following his defeat by Biden, the NewsMax crowd had a red hot go at stealing eyeballs from Fox and being the edgy outsiders. They weren't real good at it. But this isn't about Rupert, it's about his kids .. and in many ways their talents remain to be seen. If Fox moves to the centre, will it be successful? That depends on the hands on the tiller. If someone goes up against Fox media will it be Newsmax and Ted Turner's ghost or will it be Lachlan Murdoch hellbent on sticking it to James? These are, IMHO, more interesting questions. Never underestimate the drama of siblings ripping into each other .. now add several billion dollars in to the mix.
throw0101a 2y ago
> If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax? There have been studies that have shown that changing channels cause people to change their views: * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi... So if the shift is gradual, then there could be a shift over time on viewers' part.
jfengel 2y ago
Fox News plays an important role in setting the Overton window. They act like a mainstream news channel, presenting themselves as just to the right of center. Then viewers consume NewsMax, thinking of them as only slightly more extreme, even though an objective view would present them as being utterly crazy-pants. If Fox News were to disappear, there would be an enormous gap between the other mainstream media and the far-right ones. I don't know what would happen to its viewership, but they'd be presented with a starker choice than they expect. They're used to thinking of themselves as fairly moderate, while being regularly presented with extreme opinions. Those opinions have drifted consistently further from reality, and I suspect that the viewers would rather continue that path than follow Fox News to a more moderate place. But that may be unnecessarily cynical.

defrost 2y ago

Rupert Murdoch grew up in media, his father had a newspaper and (along with other adventures) tilted hard at the British Government over censorship of war news in WWI. With that as his launchpad he expanded from Australia to the UK and mastered the art of eating Fleet Street's lunch (stealing eyeballs from establishment newspapers). Recently, when Fox finally (temporarily) stopped supporting Trump following his defeat by Biden, the NewsMax crowd had a red hot go at stealing eyeballs from Fox and being the edgy outsiders. They weren't real good at it. But this isn't about Rupert, it's about his kids .. and in many ways their talents remain to be seen. If Fox moves to the centre, will it be successful? That depends on the hands on the tiller. If someone goes up against Fox media will it be Newsmax and Ted Turner's ghost or will it be Lachlan Murdoch hellbent on sticking it to James? These are, IMHO, more interesting questions. Never underestimate the drama of siblings ripping into each other .. now add several billion dollars in to the mix.

throw0101a 2y ago

> If Fox News moves to the center, will its audience move along with it? Or will they just migrate to competing outlets such as Newsmax? There have been studies that have shown that changing channels cause people to change their views: * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/730725 * https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 https://osf.io/preprints/osf/jrw26 (PDF available) * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727272... Interview with study co-author: * https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-views-study https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/16/media-changing-vi... So if the shift is gradual, then there could be a shift over time on viewers' part.

jfengel 2y ago

Fox News plays an important role in setting the Overton window. They act like a mainstream news channel, presenting themselves as just to the right of center. Then viewers consume NewsMax, thinking of them as only slightly more extreme, even though an objective view would present them as being utterly crazy-pants. If Fox News were to disappear, there would be an enormous gap between the other mainstream media and the far-right ones. I don't know what would happen to its viewership, but they'd be presented with a starker choice than they expect. They're used to thinking of themselves as fairly moderate, while being regularly presented with extreme opinions. Those opinions have drifted consistently further from reality, and I suspect that the viewers would rather continue that path than follow Fox News to a more moderate place. But that may be unnecessarily cynical.