The hacking story is a big deal. The closing of NOTW is very big deal. The denials by Murdoch and son that they "knew nothing" about multi-million dollar payouts and a potentially international conspiracy to encourage official impropriety are so wildly implausible that only a devoted ideologue could accept them at face value. The death under mysterious circumstances of Sean Hoare, the whistle-blower who first broke the story just prior to Parliamentary hearings on the matter certainly has a greater smell to it than anything the rabid dogs in Murdoch's own little empire had to go on after the Vince Foster suicide.
All in all, this dynamite. It is both an astounding public relations disaster and a sordid criminal affair. And it is far from over. But, in my humble opinion, none of this is as interesting as some very simple and very public information that has gone utterly ignored.
The ratings of News Corp's giant, right-wing American libel machine, Fox News... are in a free fall. Across the first two quarters of 2011, FOX lost nearly 15% of its prime time viewers. Not only are they not the "most trusted name in news," they are no longer even close to being "number 1."
Here's the bottom line from the 2011 Q2 report via Mediabistro:
"CNN reached a cumulative Q2 2011 average monthly audience of 100.4 million, Fox News followed with 83.2 million and MSNBC trailed with 80.3 million."
These numbers would spell doom at any other news network. There would be time-slot shuffling, talent firings, producer replacements and major design alterations. However, Fox is not any other network.
Andrew Sullivan put it succinctly a few days ago when he wrote, "I don't put Fox in the category of biased media. it is, rather, propaganda, which is always indifferent to the truth, because its ultimate allegiance is to power."
As an essential tool of the hard, corporatist right wing, Fox isn't going away anytime soon. But the audience is.
Here's the bottom line from the 2011 Q2 report via Mediabistro:
"CNN reached a cumulative Q2 2011 average monthly audience of 100.4 million, Fox News followed with 83.2 million and MSNBC trailed with 80.3 million."
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These numbers would spell doom at any other news network. There would be time-slot shuffling, talent firings, producer replacements and major design alterations. However, Fox is not any other network.
Andrew Sullivan put it succinctly a few days ago when he wrote, "I don't put Fox in the category of biased media. it is, rather, propaganda, which is always indifferent to the truth, because its ultimate allegiance is to power."
As an essential tool of the hard, corporatist right wing, Fox isn't going away anytime soon. But the audience is.
At the end of a long and teagic day, this is good news. May it continue as long as does Mirdoch.
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