I’m sure someone can boil this one down with better details, but “watching” isn’t something folks seems to do with news anymore. They’re back to “reading” or “catching up on” news, but “watching” doesn’t seem to happen.
This changes a little during Elections, but then it’s back to just a part of an employees morning routine at the office. Check the headlines, read a few articles, and move on.
Poly-Sci folks might follow it up at the Cato institute, further online reading, books and other stuff.
But news and TV don’t mix much anymore. Maybe they never mixed. Really, do folks view the TV as a forum for thought provocation? Is it an opportunity for critical thinking? Nah. It’s your time to be entertained.
Fox News jumped from “Fox what?” to top news channel in 10 years. How? It has a hook. It’s found an unrelenting patronage, a demographic, and sculpted it’s reporting around this base. There’s a lot of room in between pure video journalism and pure editorial, and Fox is defining that spectrum.
I used to find myself perplexed by Fox’s success, and as a left-leaning moderate, found it almost offensive. But I know it’s really a gimmick. That’s not an attack, that’s a compliment to any TV production. If you have something that works, ride it out. Drive that gravy train home.
But it ain’t news. Cause if it was, a hell of a lot less folks would watch it. That stuff doesn’t lead you to any conclusions.