In a recent diary about talking to people with opposing political views someone mentioned that s/he tries to figure out why people watch Fox News.
I didn’t realize there was anything to figure out.
I’ve written about this in the past and perhaps it’s a good idea to repeat it again in diary form while people are thinking about the topic.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when I was still spending more time at Dean for America and Democratic Underground than here, I used to watch C-SPAN every morning while getting ready for work.
One day I heard Kim Hume, the founding Washington Bureau Chief of Fox News Channel (and yes, the wife of Brit Hume) admit directly why #FakesNewsChannel was created:
Brian Lamb: Fox leads in the ratings in almost every time segment of the day. How did you get there?
Kim Hume: I think we got there by doing something that’s very important, which is giving people information, giving our viewers information, and giving it to them in a way that didn’t make them feel stupid.
Fox News Channel is political pablum for people who are incapable of comprehending complex or challenging issues, but don’t want that reality thrown in their face every time they watch the news.
FNC newsreader scripts are accessible for people with limited language and analysis skills (which is the vast majority of the electorate).
FNC news anchors speak a bit more slowly than average, with a lot of breath pauses. They use a relatively small number of vocabulary words, and the words they do use are limited to one and two syllable words the average elementary school child could easily define.
They also use very simple sentences: with few dependent clauses or parenthetical asides. They don’t make double-edged statements or statements that require subtext to understand. They particularly don’t ask viewers to hold two ideas in their head at once and compare them (the “not only [this]...but [that]” sentence construction our anchors are so fond of).
They are mostly dealing with people who avoid reading because it is difficult or they do not enjoy it. So chyrons are kept simple, and sometimes carry the entire message in case that is the only thing people see or read. They also avoid putting large blocks of text on the screen that is read aloud.
They speak in short slogans of just a few words, and repeat them over and over and over. They tie everything in to the GOPropaganda Message of The Day across multiple shows to create the illusion that “everyone” is talking about a situation in the same way. They still draw on elements of the 20+ year old GOPAC memo Newt Gingrich praised as a breakthrough in persuasive vocabulary for conservatives.
They never make reference to movies, plays, music, magazines, or books that Jane and Joe Average haven’t seen or read or heard, so folks don’t have to pretend they are familiar with stuff they don’t know, or admit they are unfamiliar with cultural references that well-read or well-educated people easily recognize. Every once in a while they cite the Bible, but stick to the best known and most recognizable passages, and promote the most widely known (and usually misleading/misunderstood) interpretations of scripture.
They also never make references to history, geography, or any other ideas that were once considered part of shared cultural knowledge. TO make things even worse: they reinforce aspects of shared cultural knowledge that “many people believe” even though they are false: (Texas is the largest state in the US, Hawaii is the US state farthest to the West, the country of Greenland is about the same size as the continent of Africa, racism ended when slavery was abolished or the Civil Rights Act was signed or Obama was elected, etc.).
After a long day of watching this (interspersed with listening to #hateradio), viewers turn to the evening shows to be told what to think. These hosts never EVER expect (or want) viewers to reach conclusions on their own. Every idea presented on the opinion shows is accompanied by some form of “and this is how you should feel about it”. This lets people go to work or school or church or the grocery store or the gym with pre-digested opinions to regurgitate that they know will be popular because everyone there was watching FNC also..
So even people who don’t necessarily agree with all of the State TV aspects of FNC sometimes watch its “news” programming because it is easy. And comfortable. And it does not require any thinking or analysis to take it in. Last but not least, it helps them “fit in” with conservative family members or co-workers (or at least lets them be aware of the conspiracy theories and lies that the people around them are talking about).
And some just watch for the “bubble-headed bleach blonde” anchors and hosts. FNC crotch-level camera angles and appearance/makeup/ornamentation standards for women are legendary.
TL;DR: Millions of people who do not agree with conservative politics watch FNC just because it is easy to consume.
Fox News programming is easier to comprehend than Blue Team cable news shows, broadcast network television news, or even the best late-night comedy routines. Minimalist vocabulary, big ideas cut down to bite-size pieces, easily memorized catchphrases repeated multiple times a day: perfectly packaged for effortless consumption.
More people eat at McDonald’s than prepare good tasting nutritious meals at home. People swallow propaganda because it is placed in front of them in an attractive container. They are hungry and thirsty and just reach for what is available through the path of least resistance.
That’s why I never complain about the way Rachel Maddow repeats a point several different ways to persuade people that yes, they are capable of following a complicated story and understanding it. She must be doing something right on all those nights that she leaves her competitors in the dust.
If Steyer or Bloomberg or one of these other billionaires, instead of wasting time with a vanity campaign for President, would use that money to start a progressive news channel designed to be similarly easy to understand, we would never lose another election.
link to other diaries in the TRUE BLUE REPORT series