Fox News is killing its own viewers--and the Murdoch family is fine with that

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/12/30/2071878/-Tucker-Carlson-s-show-has-spewed-anti-vaccine-misinformation-in-113-separate-episodes

Fox News is killing its own viewers—and the Murdoch family is fine with that
Hunter
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday December 30, 2021 · 2:33 PM EST

snip//

That was then, this is now, and if anything, Lachlan Murdoch's statements have suggested that he, personally, thinks that promoting fake propaganda to incite white nationalist or pro-fascist violence is a bit of a hoot. Tucker's been given free rein to demonize public health experts tasked with ending the pandemic, vaccine developers and manufacturers, and political figures willing to abide by previously uncontroversial pandemic safety plans like "you should obviously wear a mask to protect against an airborne disease, you brickheaded assholes."

The important context here, of course, is that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has morphed solidly into a pandemic that is most severe in Republican-voting, Republican-governed regions of the country. That doesn't mean non-Republicans aren't getting sick and dying, but the vast majority of deaths are among the unvaccinated in places where vaccination rates are low and safety measures are often ignored.

The Americans who are dying in droves, in other words, are Fox News viewers. There's no guess as to when or if this will ever cut into Fox's own bottom line—having shed most of its advertisers, the network is more reliant than ever on "carriage fees" it charges to cable and satellite companies that feel compelled to offer it to their subscribers—but so far, network hosts are going pedal to the floor with an approach that maximizes viewer outrage towards pandemic restrictions while minimizing viewer willingness to have, you know, basic human decency.

That's an approach that both Lachlan and the Fox News board have given a stamp of approval to, even if the horrific amorality of leading your own viewers into mass death has caused several of the network's top "straight news" stars to leave the network rather than share airwaves with Tucker and his ilk.

But here's the data, in any event. When Lachlan Murdoch claims his hosts aren't promoting pandemic misinformation or making false claims about the vaccines that offer the best (only?) path towards the pandemic's eventual end, he's lying. Straight-up lying, and he knows it. Fox News may not be paying attention to what their own broadcasts are claiming, but other people are. And those other people have the goods, Lachlan.

[tanyev]

1. Doesn't seem like a good business model, but he didn't ask me.

[jimfields33]

6. Sadly they still beat MSNBC and CNN in ratings by a lot.

[leftieNanner]

2. Murdochs don't care

From all of us who have cable TV, Fox gets their monthly fee even from those of us who would stab ourselves in the eyeball rather than watch their dreck.

I have tried to get Fox removed from the lineup and been told (more than once) that it all comes as a package and I can't pick and choose my stations. They could probably go completely ad-free and still make a bundle.

Wish I could figure a way to keep the stations I like and get off cable, without having to subscribe to 27 different streaming services.

[luv2fly]

3. And we know damn well they are all vaxxed

Classic case of "do as we say, not as we do."

[Kaleva]

4. About 1%-2% of the adult population in this country watches Fox News.

there are over 250 million adults in the US

" According to ratings data compiled by Nielsen, Fox News delivered an average prime time audience of 2.578 million viewers in November, followed by MSNBC (1.091 million total viewers) and CNN (654,000 viewers)."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216155436#post4

[bronxiteforever]

8. The Joe Rogan Experience reaches an estimated 11 million people per episode.

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-dethroned-spotify-chart-new-gaming-podcast-sapnap-karl-jacobs-number-one-1634239

[Kaleva]

9. Which is about 4.5% of the adult population.

[brooklynite]

5. The odds are in his favor...

The death rate is a fraction of a percentage of Republican voters (or even Fox News viewers). For every voter who dies, 100 are revved up to stay in the Republican column.

[Johonny]

7. It's been claimed many times

GOP officials behind closed doors have zero respect for their voters who they see as suckers.

[canetoad]

10. Maybe Rupert, as he grows old

And lumpy and pumped full of viagra, is finding true love with Jerry Hall and believes he is doing the world a service by surreptitiously encouraging the death of Fox following trumpies.

[babylonsister]

11. Hahaha and ewww...

how could she? But I did discover Jerry gave contributions to Biden and Mayor Pete; oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear what they discuss.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/06/25/rupert-murdochs-wife-supermodel-jerry-hall-donates-to-joe-bidens-campaign/?sh=394faa0d4bcb