I sense a sea change at Fox News.

[JohnnyRingo]

With the polite town hall with Bernie, critical coverage from daytime anchors, and hiring of lefty contributors, I see a change in direction at Donald Trump's favorite news outlet just ahead of the release of Mueller's report. Even Trump has noticed in his tweet about how surprised he was over "Crazy Bernie's" comfortable appearance (strange). I'm sure Trump had a bowl of popcorn on his lap waiting for a Murdoch Massacre and got MSNBC Lite. DJT commented how strange it was to see Donna Brazille joining "his" network. "What's with Fox News" he tweeted.

I consider that if the bomb that drops Thursday is so damning, so showing of criminal intent and treason, that 75% of the country believes he should go - at least out the door, Fox is going to chase the viewers. Don't kid ourselves, Fox News has little loyalty to any man or credo. Ratings are their game, and they aren't going to miss covering the scandal of this or the last century by playing lap dog to a loser.

Sean Hannity may end up asking Glenn Beck for a job.

[Kath2]

1. Fox news is finally waking up to reality.

[msongs]

2. fox and trump prefer bernie as an opponent perhaps nt

[mjvpi]

13. One theory about trump voters is that a percentage voted for him

Because they saw someone who would not be a typical politician. Well, they got that. Many of them saw Senator Saunders in that same light. Trump voters that I have talked to dislike the current state of health care, money in politics and business as usual in Washington. These are people who fell for the anti Clinton crap. But they did see those qualities in Bernie. Saunders does well in rural Vermont. My guess is there are other candidates that Trump would rather take on.

[louis c]

14. You're dreaming

Sanders voters will vote for Trump, but it doesn't work in reverse.

[Grasswire2]

16. Sanders voters who were not Dems, you mean.

That's the NPR polling result from 2017. The 1 in 10 Bernie supporters in the primary who crossed over to Trump in the General Election were not Dems before the primary. They were ideologically aligned with Bernie's populism but then transferred that to Trump. Further, they aligned with Trump on other policy issues such as white privilege endangerment (racial bias). Some of them may simply have been spoilers. But they were not vested in the Democratic Party.

[louis c]

22. The last time I responded to that line, I got one of those bullshit warnings

[BigmanPigman]

3. I never watch Fux so I don't know but when and to what degree

did they finally go against Bush 2 and his war?

[Trenzalore]

4. Nope

There is no competitive primary on the republican side. News coverage from now till April/June 2020 is all on the democratic. They need to have democrats come on the show to be able to talk about the news.

They didn't railroad Bernie because they need to convince 16 other people that it is safe to come on their network. Otherwise the only thing they have to broadcast is incoherent Trump rallies. They risk having their viewers change the channel to understand what is going on. They will be on their best behavior till a nominee wins and than they will be back to the disgusting propaganda outlet they have always been.

[SoCalDem]

6. a snake is always a snake..

[VarryOn]

7. They hots during the Sanders townhall...

pressed him pretty good on his taxes and healthcare, and I never felt like they were being d*cks to him. I felt like they dwell too long on his taxes, though. In the long run, I want the Democratic candidates to be challenged so they can get better on the debate stage. In the 3 or 4 CNN townhalls, I've thought some of the questioning was soft.

Maybe, they did place nice with Sanders to get other Democrats to do townhalls too, but, if I were running, I'd do one. A stage all to myself for an hour, hell yeah.

[ribrepin]

10. I suspect you are right

[CentralMass]

5. I think it a bogus shift to try and get the DNC to allow them (Fox) to host a debate.

I agree with the DNC regarding not letting Fox host any debates and I also think it a mistake for our candidates to have town halls there.

[NCLefty]

11. Probably. I'm sure they don't like being locked out of the next big thing.

[The Wielding Truth]

15. DING!DING!DING!

[Baconator]

20. We need to not just preach to the choir but win back some of the votes we lost in 2016.

Lots of 'em are watching FOX and so that's where we should go.

No one is saying they need to go treat Inghram / Hannity / Carlson like an intellectual peer and moral equal but why not use the tools we have to win the votes we need?

[samplegirl]

8. I would like to think you

are 100% correct. However we are talking Faux news who may only have their loyalist army out until this report is done and over with.

[rwheeler31]

9. I think it is a big mistake to give Fox

ratings. credibility or cash. I wish our candidates would stay completely away from that network.

[.99center]

12. Fox News needs to sell approximately 70% of their ads for next year

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[garybeck]

17. I disagree on one thing you said

Fox is not driven by ratings. The purpose of Fox is to spread propaganda. It has to do it in a way that makes money and suck people in, thus the ratiings. Convincing 10% of the people of something doesn't get people elected. I think you have the cart before the horse. the #1 purpose is their agenda.

[delisen]

18. Prepare for Fox to split Democrats

the question to ask: if Trump becomes a liability and Fox decide to lean toward a Democrat which one will it be?

The Murdoch sons are different from the father but they are going to center in on Democrat with whom a large part of their viewer base can identify.

Rupert Murdoch was backer of Tony Blair, Labour Party and through Blair and Labor Party shaped UK policy while Blair was in power. (Murdoch only broke with Blair when Wendi Deng/Tony Blair rumors began).

[DeminPennswoods]

19. More info on the sons

Lachlan, the oldest son, is now in charge of FoxNews. He's conservative, but different from Rupert.

Lachlan is politically conservative and defends Fox News even as his left-leaning brother James privately professes embarrassment about the channel. Lachlan has told colleagues that a news operation, be it Fox News or the Wall Street Journal, can hew to political principles, but it should not rely on loyalty to a single politician. On Tuesday, Fox announced that former House speaker Paul D. Ryan was joining the board, an implicit declaration of conservative principles, and also of some independence from Trump.

Lachlan has also said that most of the people who object to Fox News have never watched it, and he highlights the tamer news anchors over opinion hosts such as Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro.

and

“The view has always been among Democrats that you can’t deal with Rupert because he doesn’t need you, but maybe the kids will be better,” said (FCC chairman Reed) Hundt. “The leading Democratic politicians have all thought for 20 years that they could have an understanding with the next generation of Murdochs.”

Link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lachlan-murdoch-takes-control-of-fox-corp-but-how-will-he-deal-with-president-trump/2019/03/20/abbb43d6-40ee-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a91e211b960b

[Mike Nelson]

21. Well...

… FOX and Trump want to run against Bernie or Elizabeth Warren... they're going to run against them even if they don't win the Primary race, but they would prefer them... that aside, FOX will drop their loyalty to Trump when he's over, and move on to the next Republican. They would worship at the altar of Mike Pence, for example.