Murder Of Seth Rich Conspiracy
On May 16, 2017, a day when other news organizations were extensively covering Donald Trump’s revelation of classified information to Russia, Fox News ran a lead story about a private investigator’s uncorroborated claims about the murder of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer. The private investigator said he had uncovered evidence that Rich was in contact with Wikileaks and law enforcement were covering it up. The killing of Rich has given rise to conspiracy theories in rightwing circles that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich killed allegedly because he was the source of the DNC leaks. U.S. intelligence agencies determined Russia was the source of the leaks. In reporting the investigator’s claims, the Fox News report reignited right-wing conspiracy theories about the killing.
Rich’s parents, Joel and Mary Rich, sued Fox News for the emotional distress it had caused them by its false reporting. In 2020, Fox News settled with Rich family, making a payment that was not officially disclosed but which was reported to be in the seven figures. Although the settlement had been agreed to earlier in the year, Fox News arranged to delay the public announcement until after the 2020 presidential election.
Newsmax Plans Expansion To Capitalize On Trump Support Anger At Fox News
By Lisa Richwine, Helen Coster
6 Min Read
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK – Newsmax, a conservative cable news channel promoted by President Donald Trump, plans to expand in the United States and Britain, Chief Executive Chris Ruddy told Reuters.
The network plans to hire more staff in the United States and London, debut a new primetime host and add more weekend programming to capitalize on post-election gains and some viewers discontent with Rupert Murdochs longtime ratings king Fox News.
Aided by shout-outs from Trump on Twitter, Newsmaxs weekly primetime viewership has jumped 68% since the U.S. presidential election as the channel refused to declare Joe Biden the winner and aired debunked theories about voter fraud.
Early evening host Greg Kelly on Monday averaged 229,000 viewers ages 25 to 54, the group most coveted by cable news advertisers, for the first time beating Foxs Martha MacCallum, who brought in 203,000 viewers in that age range at that hour.
MacCallum, however, won in overall viewers, and reclaimed her lead in both categories on Tuesday, suggesting the Newsmax gains may be fragile. Some key audience metrics have slipped from Newsmaxs post-election peaks. Primetime viewership for the week that ended Dec. 4 was down 21% from two weeks earlier, averaging 391,000 viewers, while its total day audience fell 19%.
Ruddy noted that, despite some dips, Newsmax is hovering high above pre-election levels.
Fox News declined to comment.
HIRING SPLURGE
Fox News Intensifies Its Pro
Donna Brazile, a Democratic analyst, has left the Murdoch-owned network as some hosts and journalists who questioned Donald Trump have exited or been sidelined.
Fox News once devoted its 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. time slots to relatively straightforward newscasts. Now those hours are filled by opinion shows led by hosts who denounce Democrats and defend the worldview of former President Donald J. Trump.
For seven years, Juan Williams was the lone liberal voice on The Five, the networks popular afternoon chat show. On Wednesday, he announced that he was leaving the program, after months of harsh on-air blowback from his conservative co-hosts. Many Fox News viewers cheered his exit on social media.
Donna Brazile, the former Democratic Party chairwoman, was hired by Fox News with great fanfare in 2019 as a dissenting voice for its political coverage. She criticized Mr. Trump and spoke passionately about the Black Lives Matter movement, which other hosts on the network often demonized. Ms. Brazile has now left Fox News last week, she quietly started a new job at ABC.
Onscreen and off, in ways subtle and overt, Fox News has adapted to the post-Trump era by moving in a single direction: Trumpward.
Its new opinion shows at 7 and 11 with segments that lament cancel culture and attack Mr. Biden are attracting bigger audiences than the newscasts they replaced. And the niche right-wing network Newsmax has failed to sustain its postelection audience gains.
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Is This The Death Of Fox News’s Love Affair With Donald Trump
Since his election loss, the rightwing network has distanced itself from Donald Trump. Where will the Maga brigade get their news now?
Poor Donald Trump. Not only has he lost the election, it looks as if he has lost the love of his life. Im not talking about Melania although some rumours have it that she is counting the minutes until she can get a divorce . Im talking about Fox News.
For years, Trump and Fox News have been in a committed, loving relationship. Recently, however, there has been trouble in paradise, with Trump complaining the network is a much different place than it used to be. The relationship might have been salvaged, but then Fox News did something unforgivable: it flirted with real journalism. On election day, it was the first major outlet to declare Joe Biden would win Arizona, sending the Trump administration into a meltdown. Since then, Fox News has continued to infuriate the White House by refusing to encourage Trumps delusion that he won the election. On Monday, for example, it cut away from the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, when she claimed that the Democrats had encouraged voter fraud. Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Fox News anchor said to the viewers. I cant in good countenance continue showing you this.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Several Moments When Chyron Topics Differed
Though it is far from the only possible way to evaluate news coverage, the chyron has become something of a touchstone for media analysts, being both the most obvious visual example of spin or distraction and the most shareable. Any negative coverage of the president usually prompts a flurry of tweets cataloguing the differences among networks in their chyron text. While CNN, MSNBC and the BBC are typically in alignment, Monday morning was a particularly stark example of how Fox News pushes its own version of reality.
To right-leaning media observers, the coverage by the other networks might seem equally troubling: does the Manafort indictment deserve an hour or more of uninterrupted airtime? On many stories, there could be legitimate differences in news judgment by editors and producers at competing news outlets, in turn leading to varying focuses in coverage.
But, whatever the reason, such a stark difference in one networks coverage of this case, as well as the well-documented political preferences of its viewers, underscore how far political polarization has seeped into the news business.
Note: Analysis examined first second of each minute of television coverage using lower-third chyron text. Source: The Internet Archive
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United Kingdom And Ireland
FNC was carried in the United Kingdom by Sky, which was 40-percent owned by 21st Century Fox at the time, and operates its own domestic news channel Sky News. On August 29, 2017, Sky dropped Fox News the broadcaster said its carriage was not “commercially viable” due to average viewership of fewer than 2,000 viewers per day. The company said the decision was unrelated to 21st Century Fox’s proposed acquisition of the remainder of Sky plc .
The potential co-ownership had prompted concerns from critics of the deal, who felt Sky News could similarly undergo a shift to an opinionated format with a right-wing viewpoint. However, such a move would violate Ofcom broadcast codes, which requires all news programming to show due impartiality. The channel’s broadcasts in the country have violated this rule on several occasions, while the channel also violated election silence rules by broadcasting analysis of the 2016 Brexit referendum while polls were still open .
The Secret History Of Kimberly Guilfoyles Departure From Fox
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As President Donald Trump heads into the 2020 elections, he faces a daunting gender gap: according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, he trails Joe Biden by thirty percentage points among female voters. As part of his campaign, Trump has been doing all he can to showcase female stars in the Republican Party, from nominating Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court to naming Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News host and legal analyst, his campaigns finance chair. Guilfoyle, however, may not be an ideal emissary. In November, 2018, a young woman who had been one of Guilfoyles assistants at Fox News sent company executives a confidential, forty-two-page draft complaint that accused Guilfoyle of repeated sexual harassment, and demanded monetary relief. The document, which resulted in a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement, raises serious questions about Guilfoyles fitness as a character witness for Trump, let alone as a top campaign official.
Until now, the specific accusations against Guilfoyle have remained largely hidden. The draft complaint, which was never filed in court, is covered by a nondisclosure agreement. The former assistant has not been publicly identified, and, out of respect for the rights of alleged victims of sexual harassment, The New Yorker is honoring her confidentiality. Reached for comment, she said, I wish you well. But I have nothing to say.
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People In The Murdoch Family Dont Speak To Each Other Partly Over The Issue Of Fox News And Donald Trump Author Tells Cnn
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Michael Wolff, the man behind three books about the Trump administration, told CNN that Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch hates Donald Trump but loves the money the former president brings his cable news channel.
CNNs Brian Stelter asked Wolff on Sunday why Fox News is still so attached to Mr Trump if Mr Murduch despises him.
I think that there are two worlds going on here, Wolff said. Theres Rupert Murdochs world, which is all-powerful, but … its actually not quite all-powerful.
The author added that the Fox News network has moved its business model to an old Trump model.
Thats where the money comes from … Would Rupert Murdoch have an alternative to that, that would supply that much money? Rupert hates Donald Trump, hates him, but Rupert loves money. Those are two warring things.
Trump’s Fox News Love Fest Hits A Rough Patch
A president accustomed to friendly coverage from the network has been finding things to complain about of late.
Many viewers of Monday nights Fox News town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders saw a left-wing candidate in the hot seat on a network known for its tight relationship with President Donald Trump.
But Trump himself saw something else: sinister forces at his favorite news network aligning against him. Trump complained twice about the event on Twitter over the next day, griping about an allegedly pro-Sanders audience and charging that the anchors had sucked up to one of his 2020 rivals.
The political class may marvel at Trumps perceived control over Fox, which liberal critics have likened to a propaganda outlet. But the presidents complaints suggest hes frustrated that he doesnt have enough. In particular, Trump has repeatedly aimed Twitter barbs at the networks news anchors, griping that they are insufficiently enthusiastic about his agenda.
Many Trump Fans & Signs were outside of the Studio last night in the now thriving Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the interview with Crazy Bernie Sanders. Big complaints about not being let in-stuffed with Bernie supporters. Whats with ?
Donald J. Trump
I dont think he views Fox as a monolith. Hes upset with certain personalities on Fox News, said a former senior White House official.
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Why Do All The Women On Fox News Look And Dress Alike Republicans Prefer Blondes
From pundits like Ann Coulter to Kellyanne Conway, American rightwingers are a uniform vision of dont scare-the-horses dressing
Why do so many rightwing American women have bottle-blond hair, often worn girlishly long? Im thinking of Kellyanne Conway, Ann Coulter and almost any woman on Fox News.
Jonathan, London N16
Excellent question, Jonathan! I was pondering something similar myself recently while looking through Ivanka Trumps fashion collection on ivankatrump.com, which seems to be one of the only places it is stocked these days. The grimly bland suede pumps, the simpering floral shifts, the just-flirtatious-enough body-skimming little black dresses welcome, people, to death by mainstream feminine. You know how your mother goes on about how you wear too much black/denim/weird stuff, and you cant figure out what the hell it is she expects you to wear? Well, allow me to introduce you to Ivanka Trump. What a shame it seems to be sold almost nowhere these days, as these are the clothes your mother dreams of. Oh well, looks like shell have to put up with you in your awesome Bella Freud jumper and Topshop wide-legged culottes combo for another weekend!
‘why Is It Lie After Lie After Lie’: Fox News Anchor Goes Off On Trump Administration
“Why is it lie after lie after lie?” Smith said to fellow anchor Chris Wallace. “The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling.”
What set Smith off was the latest development about a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer who reportedly offered dirt on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Reports on Friday revealed there were more people in attendance than Trump originally acknowledged.
“We’re still not clean on this, Chris. If theres nothing there and thats what they tell us If all of that, why all these lies?” an exasperated Smith said.
The reprimand was uncharacteristic coming from Fox News, which has been reliably positive in its coverage of the White House. Since news of the Trump Jr. meeting broke last week, pundits on the network have targeted their criticism at the media, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton herself.
“There are still people who are out there who believe were making it up,” Smith said. “And one day theyre gonna realize were not and look around and go, Where are we, and why are we getting told all these lies?”
The Washington Post went so far as calling the Smith monologue his “Walter Cronkite” moment. In 1968, the esteemed CBS anchor gave a pessimistic report on the Vietnam War, supposedly leading President Lyndon Johnson to mutter, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
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