By Angelo Carusone
After Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, Lachlan Murdoch said there would be ‘no change’ in the network’s programming strategy. This week, Fox made good on that promise.
The crowning of odious Jesse Watters as the new face of Fox News is a reflection of Fox’s dogged commitment to bigotry and deceit as well as an indication of their desperation to regain audience share. It won’t work, though. Fox’s audience abandoned the network post-Tucker, and those viewers never returned. Jesse Watters’ buffoonish segments of bigotry and culture war vitriol won’t fix that problem for Fox; he’s a liability and a ticking time bomb.
Dominion exposed Fox News for the partisan propaganda operation that it is. Instead of trying to adjust and attempt to establish a beachhead of credibility, the network is going back out to sea by leaning in on their most toxic personalities — like Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters. The network is transparently appealing to the fringes here.
Advertisers and cable providers beware: Things at Fox News are about to get a whole lot worse.
Angelo Carusone is President of Media Matters.