Fox is Taking a Hit

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

It may not look like it, but the following article on Breitbart is nothing more than the free market in action.

Trump-Effect: Fox News Channel’s Brand Takes 50% Hit Among Republicans
by John Nolte
27 Feb 2016
Breitbart

From the article:

Nolte said:

 

Just last week, a years-long tradition came to a screeching halt. “You want me to put it on Fox News,” I asked my wife. “No,” she replied. “I’m done with Fox News.”

. . .

Fox News has a problem, and not just with my wife. According to a YouGov Brand Index survey, the perception of Fox News among Republicans has hit a three-year low, “has declined by approximately 50% since January of this year.”

. . .

Whether or not you support Trump, FNC’s pro-Rubio/GOP Establishment bias is still as hard to swallow as the mainstream media’s left-wing bias. Bias is bias. It’s manipulative and dishonest, and no one likes to be manipulated or lied to.

MSNBC is left-wing. CNN is even more left-wing. If every Democrat tuned into either, the ratings would crush Fox. Democrats don’t tune in, though, because even Democrats hate bias.

. . .

I still tune into the roundtable, but now it’s for the same reason I monitor the mainstream media: to get a feel for the talking points and wishful thinking-propaganda coming from the GOP Mother Ship. In fact, for that same reason, I’m watching more Fox News than ever before. After all, my job is to expose media deception.

. . .

When  I asked my wife why she is “done” with Fox News, her answer was simply, “They’re just like all the rest.”

 

It's not ideology.

It's deception and cluelessness.

People don't want deception and cluelessness.

When they get deception and cluelessness, they go to other places.

It's kinda duh, but there it is.

The most important thing Nolte said in that article was the following: "That could also give an upstart an opening."

My heart does not lie in making a media company, but if it did, I would certainly jump on this opportunity. I would be that upstart.

Glenn Beck once did and he took off like greased lightning. Recently he has become quite manipulative and clueless, so his audience is deserting him.

So even savvy media people forget the nature of their power once the power goes to their heads.

Then they become just like the others. And that makes them part of the problem and no longer a solution to it.

Michael

[Robert Campbell]

Michael,

Fox has indeed taken a hit.  (Not that some of the biases being complained of were a reaction to the Trump campaign.  Some go back several years.  Trump and his followers just raised the stakes.)

But what's happened in the past three weeks is a further warning.  Alternative media is a risky business.

In its turn, Breitbart has seen several people quit after Trump's campaign manager allegedly grabbed one of Breitbart's own reporters and shoved her aside (then denied any such incident had ever taken place).  Still no official response from Breitbart.  Much more in the way of official silence on the matter, and I suspect Breitbart will go the way of Glenn Beck's operation.

Robert Campbell

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Robert!!!

Michael

[Robert Campbell]

Michael!!!

I'll be hanging out here, for a while at least.

Robert

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Robert Campbell said:

I'll be hanging out here, for a while at least.

Robert,

You just made my day.

 

Michael

[Robert Campbell]

Any thoughts about Breitbart?

Still no word about the departures since Joel Pollak was ordered to yank his post on March 14.

Robert

[william.scherk]

1 hour ago, Robert Campbell said:

Any thoughts about Breitbart?

Still no word about the departures since Joel Pollak was ordered to yank his post on March 14.

I have been following a bit of the ruckus at Breitbart, and trying to see through the posturing and hoopla.  Can you tell more about the yanked posted and your own reactions to the ruckus?

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

4 hours ago, Robert Campbell said:

Any thoughts about Breitbart?

Still no word about the departures since Joel Pollak was ordered to yank his post on March 14.

Robert

Robert,

Sure. I wrote about this the other day:

 

On 3/15/2016 at 11:09 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Here are some comments on the Breitbart housecleaning.

For some time now, I've been sensing a conflict within the Breitbart News site over Donald Trump. Some of the people were pro-Trump and some virulently anti-Trump. You could tell by the nature of the stories.

The pro-Trump side was headed by Steve Bannon, the Executive Chairman of Breitbart. The anti-Trump side was headed by Ben Shapiro, editor-at-large.

A kerfuffle came to a head last August that didn't help: Breitbart Staffers Believe Trump Has Given Money To Site For Favorable Coverage. According to the article, there were four anonymous staffers as source. Bannon denied this and, to be honest, it was probably baloney.

Steve Bannon made a 2011 movie Kat and I saw here in Chicago and Bannon himself came for the viewing: The Undefeated. This is a full feature documentary on Sarah Palin and was VERY pro-Sarah. I imagine there is much friendliness between Steve and Sarah (and their respective people).

So it makes sense if Sarah was going to support Trump, Bannon was on the team so he would, also.

But the anti-Trump side at Breitbart has shown the special form of outright hatred that takes root in some people regarding Trump. Since last August, the coverage at Breitbart re Trump has been weird. It has either been very pro-Trump or outright bashing of the worst kind. Very little middle.

Last Friday, former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella resigned citing Trump as the reason. He did not leave quietly and made the rounds bashing both Trump and Breitbart.

Then the dustup with reporter Michelle Fields and Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski happened. Apparently, Lewandowski pulled her back as Trump was passing, but from the video, it looked like normal crowd jostle. She filed charges and all hell has broken loose about this.

I can't say for sure, but from all the yelling, it seems like Fields (or people next to her) tried to leverage the event to get benefits from Trump (I heard Fields say that to Megyn Kelly tonight) and Trump's people were probably having none of it. So an irrational war erupted on both sides at Breitbart. Both sides have been slinging mud at each other. 

Today a mini-exodus started when Michelle Fields and editor-at-large Ben Shapiro resigned. Later they were followed by national security reporter Jordan Schachtel and associate editor Jarrett Stepman.

By my count, there were 4 anonymous staffers leaking made-up dirt last August. There are a total of five people who resigned since last Friday. So that probably covers it, or at least most of it. The anti-Trump side lost and things will soon get back to normal.

Today there are a few articles here and there trumpeting the demise of Breitbart yada yada yada. I have little doubt Bannon will replace those who left in short order. There is no lack of right-wing journalism talent in America. So Breitbart is going nowhere. On the contrary, imagine what opportunities will run through there once Trump wins.

If it seems like this affair is a lot of noise over little, that's because it is. The spotlight is on it because of the Trump connection, seeing how there are many media people who hate Trump.

If these thoughts have any value for you, I'm glad. But just a little. Even though I wrote them, I only value them as insider gossip. Fun, but not important.

Michael

[Robert Campbell]

WSS,

Look on the Breitbart site under Big Journalism, scroll down to March 14, and you'll see Joel Pollak's official retraction.

The original post (which Pollak put up under a pseudonym) was dumb and nasty (two things Joel Pollak is not generally known for being) and can be easily seen on a couple of wayback sites.  Just look up someone else's coverage of the matter, and you'll find a link quickly enough.

Robert Campbell

[Robert Campbell]

1 hour ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Then the dustup with reporter Michelle Fields and Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski happened. Apparently, Lewandowski pulled her back as Trump was passing, but from the video, it looked like normal crowd jostle. She filed charges and all hell has broken loose about this.

Michael,

Thank you for the pointer.

I haven't been on the site for a long time and haven't read 175 of however many pages are now on this thread.

Has the Trump campaign admitted that Lewandowski did anything at all?

Not long before this incident, there was another in which Marco Rubio lied through his teeth about Breitbart, pretending to consider their people nonjournalists who couldn't get credentialed at his events.  This at a time when stuff (I assume it was ghostwritten by someone on his staff) was appearing on Breitbart under his own name.

I found the Trump reaction to the Michelle Fields incident more than slightly redolent of what Rubio had done.

I used to read John Nolte's comments pretty regularly.  He's swung around hard in less than a year, from Fox News triumphalism (which I found somewhat overblown—Fox News has always done a few things simply because that's how Rupert Murdoch wants them) to treating Megyn Kelly as worse than Michael Moore or George Stephanopoulos.

I see Glenn Beck-style flameout as a distinct possibility for more than a few of the Breitbart contributors.  This includes some who are presently staying with Mr. Bannon.

Robert