Briefly enemies, suddenly friends again: The sexism fight between Fox News and Donald Trump is a perfect coup for the right-wing broadcaster. Some now see the channel as the refuge of critical journalism. What a farce.
Everything should be better now. Roger Ailes called. The president of Fox News is a good friend of Donald Trump. Ailes promised he would be treated fairly. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump also immediately let himself appear again on two programs there. “I’m glad we’re friends again,” the moderator of the morning show said to him. “The Fox issue is resolved,” said the moderator of the evening show.
Did something happen? For a couple of days, the relationship between the right-wing broadcaster and the wannabe president seemed seriously damaged. Megyn Kelly, one of the star moderators of the channel, reproached Trump during the TV debate for his misogynistic statements. Trump retaliated in his own way. But now everyone wants to get along in a friendlier way. All of this does not help anything.
So everything is settled? Not so fast. The episode expresses something about the relationship between the media and the powerful in the USA. At least in television journalism, a remarkable lack of detachment has developed, almost even cronyism. One especially notices this when the friendship is broken for a moment. When someone asks [a question] boldly, like Megyn Kelly, for instance. Then the interviewee feels suddenly betrayed. And the journalist is the hero of critical journalism. Kelly, for example, is suddenly honored in the USA as if she had just uncovered a second Watergate scandal. Something is not right there.
The case of Fox News versus Trump is a good example of the relationship between media and top politicians. Until now the matter has gone through three phases. In early summer, Trump was the darling of the broadcaster with 31 Fox appearances in three months. Attacks on John McCain? Agitation against Mexican immigrants? Fox News was on the spot. “He is saying things that need to be said,” according to Monica Crowley, radio host and frequent guest on the shows of the broadcaster. Trump brought Fox News high ratings. Fox News was an important playback platform for Trump. It was a wonderful cooperation.
Rupert Murdoch’s Intervention
Suddenly it was in the papers that Rupert Murdoch, CEO of the parent company News Corporation, asked network president Ailes to reduce coverage of Trump. Ailes supposedly defended himself. Murdoch went to Twitter. “When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” he wrote.
Then came the debate. Megyn Kelly and two colleagues went after the loudspeaker very tenaciously. They asked him about his relationship with women, his bankruptcies, his plans for immigration. The message: Look here, we’re independent. Trump seethed. It was a clever move by the broadcaster. It was not, as the moderators’ appearance is now being stylized, the rediscovery of journalism.
Flatter, betray, make up. Politics as drama. There is a system behind that too. Fox News is no simple television channel. The broadcaster — nearly 20 years old, headquartered in New York — also does journalism, surely. There are biting moderators and good reporters. But Fox News is also a political institution, which has the mission to give the ruling opinion a tightly conservative twist.
This is not a forbidden concern. Democracy lives on alternatives. Political media can convey them. And Fox is not alone. The cable channel MSNBC copies the broadcaster on the left-liberal side. However, Fox is untouched when it comes to aggression and power.
Business is Booming
Hardly any institution has a similar influence over conservative debates like Fox News. “The Republican party needs Fox News more than Fox News needs the Republican party,” the news website Vox.com accurately analyzed. Nearly nine out of 10 Americans who see themselves as conservative trust the broadcaster. Determining the direction of the party, establishing dependencies, selecting candidates: That is the self-conception of Fox News. It is working very well. The tea party, for example, ultimately owes its rise to the friendly support of Fox News. But the broadcaster wants more. “I want to elect the next president,” Ailes supposedly said to a group of executives before the last election, according to biographer Gabriel Sherman.
Business is booming. Competitors CNN and MSNBC have been left behind. Only the sports broadcaster ESPN has more viewers at peak times. The profits in 2014 were around 1.2 billion dollars. The only problem: The audience is mostly composed of the conservative base, and it is constantly getting older. Moderators like Kelly, who also takes on stars of the party in her evening show The Kelly File, should open up to new target groups. From this point of view as well, the conflict with Trump came right on cue.
The presidential election of 2016 should be a festival for the makers of the program. The chances are not bad. The legacies of Barack Obama — whether healthcare reform or a nuclear deal with Iran — are optimal to be taken up in order to mobilize the base. And Hillary Clinton would be a great bogeyman. They only have to stick together. Is that possible?
“He is a great guy,” Trump says about Roger Ailes after his call. And talk show host Sean Hannity meets with him for an exclusive interview. Critical questions? Zero.
Everything will be fine in the Fox system.
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