Andrew Kirell of The Daily Beast writes that the ratings success of Fox Business Network is due to its increasing coverage of politics and President Donald Trump.
Kirell writes, “The network has cemented itself as a reliable defender of Trump’s overall agenda and a ’round-the-clock foe of the bogeymen that also plague the collective consciousness of its big sister’s prime-time lineup: P.C. culture, ‘far-left’ academics and protesters, the liberal media, Black Lives Matter activists, “snowflake” millennials, and all things Democratic Party.
“In effect, the network ditched straight-up business news for a model similar to Fox News: politics (and, yes, business) with a distinctly right-wing voice.
“‘They’ve been having an incredibly good run,’ a Fox Business insider, who requested anonymity, told The Daily Beast. And it’s because ‘FBN took a Fox News II approach’ while CNBC has been noticeably ‘complacent’ with losing its grip on the ratings. (Interestingly, in 2011, the network’s then-EVP Kevin Magee sent out a staff-wide memo urging producers specifically not to copy the Fox News model. How times change.)
“A former Fox executive, similarly requesting anonymity, added: ‘They beat CNBC, sure, but they aren’t really competing with the business networks anymore. There are times where they’re more Fox-like than even Fox News.’
“Indeed, a search of recent FBN segments — using TV Eyes and the TV News Archive — shows that the network doubles even Fox News in mentions of key right-wing phrases like ‘liberal media’ and George Soros — the liberal billionaire conservatives commonly believe to be behind any and all opposition to the president. The business network also used the more pejorative phrase ‘left-wing media’ to describe mainstream press 10 times more than its counterpart had in the same period.”
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