by Sandy » Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:36 pm
The sexual harassment at Fox News is not, according to reports, something new. Maybe they let this happen because of recent ratings changes.
Starting with Joe Scarborough and MIka Bzezinski a couple of years ago, with a less one-sided approach and more discussion and debate with contributors, MSNBC pretty much got away from the commentator-entertainer model in its evening format, and went with hard news programs right up to 10 pm eastern time. Maddow anchors that at one end, and now they've got Greta Van Susteren at the other. Maddow started beating O'Reilly's ratings with her reporting on the Flint water crisis, and has doubled her audience during the buffoon's candidacy and presidency. So maybe Fox has decided the best way to make changes is to let the chips fall, and stop paying the hush money. All their ratings magnets and top journalists have migrated elsewhere. Megyn Kelly was a draw, regardless of the format she used, and so was Van Susteren. It will be interesting to see if they have anyone who can get back up to where O'Reilly was at his peak. I'm sure there's still a market for a far right niche that would rather hear one-sided commentary and name calling than hard news, but it seems like that's a shrinking group more so than it was a decade ago.