Roger Ailes did conservatives a huge favor when he helped develop Fox News. No longer would news be infused with Democrat talking positions. And we could actually hear both sides of a political issue.
"Fair and balanced" was a catchy slogan, and it was appropriate. The MSM tried to ridicule it, regular viewers appreciated it. Now comes Nymag.com with this: Fox News Is Dropping Its ‘Fair & Balanced’ Slogan:
It is hard to overstate the significance of what shedding “Fair & Balanced” means for Fox News. (It would be like the New York Times giving up “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”) Ailes invented the slogan when he launched the network in 1996, and over the years it became a quasi-religious doctrine among Fox’s anchors and viewers. The effectiveness of Fox News as a vehicle for conservative ideology depended on it. “If you come out and you try to do right-wing news, you’re gonna die. You can’t get away with it,” Ailes once told a reporter.
Fox News is undergoing a makeover after several key departures -- Roger Ailes believed in making stars out of the presenters. However, some of those stars turned on him alleging that he expected a bit more out of them. And many of the familiar faces exited -- some on their own volition, some had help out the door.
And Rupert Murdoch seems to be easing himself out the door, too, with his two sons set to take over. At least one media observer makes a convincing case that the Murdoch sons want to make the network less conservative and more progressive. We'll have to see where they take the network. And if they make it simply another MSM voice then they'll lose the audience Rupert and Roger cultivated over the past several years. And that audience will be yearning for a conservative competitor should one come along.
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2:19 PM 6/18/2017
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