RUTHFULLY YOURS

It’s official – according to the New York Times.  The “newspaper of record,” citing a June 14 article by Gabriel Sherman in New York magazine, reports that the Fox News Channel (FNC) has retired its motto of “Fair & Balanced,” which it had used prominently since the channel started in 1996. Back then, FNC founder Roger Ailes came up with the slogan to distinguish the channel from its competitors, CNN and MSNBC, and the rest of the mainstream media, which Ailes and millions of Americans considered to be biased in favor of the left.

The slogan “Fair & Balanced” hung on until last August when, according to an unnamed source cited by Sherman, it was quietly ditched because of its association with Ailes. The founder of FNC had become persona non grata after being unceremoniously removed from Fox News the month before as a result of allegations that he had sexually harassed a number of female Fox employees. (Allegations, it should be noted, that were denied by Ailes and his representatives and that were never heard in a court of law.)

The new Fox News motto is “Most Watched, Most Trusted.”

In terms of “most watched,” it is true that ratings for Fox News held strong through May of this year. But in the wake of the 2017 departures of marquee talent including Bill O’Reilly in April, and Fox News co-president Bill Shine, an Ailes loyalist, in May, FNC’s ratings are not the consistent powerhouse they once were.

For example, the latest posted cable news ratings for Tuesday June 13, a day that was slightly unusual because of live coverage of the Attorney General Jeff Sessions Senate hearings that ran until after 5 PM EDT, are mixed news for FNC. In the prime time total viewers category, Fox beat MSNBC by 276,000 viewers – 2.888 million to 2.612 million. Third place CNN was far behind in prime time with only1.124 million. In the so-called demo (viewers 25-54 that advertisers prefer and that determine a channel’s ad rates), MSNBC was first with 620,000 viewers followed by Fox (592,000) and CNN (448,000).

The number one show in all of cable news prime time – this is becoming a trend – was uber liberal Rachel Maddow’s on MSNBC at 9 PM EDT with 743,000 viewers in the demo, beating FNC’s The Five by 232,000 viewers. CNN at 9 PM was a distant also-ran. Maddow also had the largest number of total viewers (all ages) with 3.055 million of them. This number beat Maddow’s FNC competition, The Five, which had 2.695 million viewers.

Also worth reporting about in the view of many is the already faltering career of Megyn Kelly, the one-time Fox News superstar who quit Fox for NBC last January with high hopes of maybe being the next Oprah or Barbara Walters. Kelly’s new prime time NBC network show, Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, premiered on June 4, but its second run on June 11 had half as many total viewers and came in second to CBS News’s five decade old newsmagazine 60 Minutes.

On June 12, Radar Online reported that NBC is “’Freaking Out’” over ‘Ratings Disaster’ Megyn Kelley.” Radar quotes a source saying “They [NBC] didn’t pay her $15 million for this. . . People are not tuning in to watch Megyn without huge guests.” Meanwhile, Kelly’s interview taped in Austin, TX last week with controversial Infowars talk show host Alex Jones will reportedly be aired as usual on Kelly’s next show, Sunday June 18. A backlash including a sponsor boycott had developed based on objections to Jones because of some of the issues he has championed in the past, especially his raising questions about the December 2012 Sandy Hook, CT school shooting massacre. On June 12, the New York Post reported that NBC staff were “panicked” and holding “crisis meetings” about the forthcoming Jones show but that ultimately it would air as scheduled, including for its potential to increase viewership on the flagging program.