Fox News faces a 'hard lesson' being held hostage to its right-wing audience: journalist

01 March 2023

A new analysis is explaining how Fox News' allegiance to its right-wing audience might be backfiring as Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit progresses in a direction that appears to be unfavorable for the news network.

CNN's Stephen Collinson recently highlighted the latest details to be divulged in connection with the case.

"Fox News is the latest example of opinion formers on the right exposed for being held hostage to the fury they helped to incite," Collinson wrote. "Extraordinary revelations this week from a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems showed that Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that some of the channel’s top stars endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen as he tried to stop viewers from defecting."

He added, "Previous disclosures showed some of those Fox hosts knew they were peddling lies but were worried they’d alienate their audience if they told the truth about Trump’s false claims."

Collinson went on to explain how those developments have changed the scope of the case. "The new details underscored how key players on the right feel they have no choice but to appease, satisfy, and further inflame the voters and viewers on whom their profits or hopes of political power depend," he wrote.

According to Collinson, the leaders of the party are not in control but rather the voters are the ones who influence their political decision. At one point in his piece, he used a number of Republican lawmakers an examples to prove his point.

"The GOP's most fervent, constantly self-radicalizing voters have long led its leaders. GOP luminaries who resist the tide, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, ex-Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, see their careers expire," he wrote. "Those that buy in – like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, now a member of the House GOP leadership team – can rocket to prominence."

So, where does the power lie within the Republican base? Collinson argues that Republican lawmakers are fueled by the policies that appeal to far-right voters.

He noted, "The Republican politicians who appear on Fox are influenced by a similar calculation of what the political market will bear. Their unfiltered adoption of much of the doctrine favored by the conservative grassroots ultimately stretched American democracy to the limit."

Collinson's full column is available at this link.

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