Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the Trumpiest cable network of them all? With its ratings plunging, Newsmax is staking out a claim to that dubious distinction by attacking Fox News from the right!
On Monday, Newsmax ran a report throughout the day by reporter Mike Carter who concluded that Fox News was making a “hard-left turn.”
The Daily Beast included a video of Carter’s segment in a story about how Newsmax is attacking Fox News in an effort to draw away hard-core MAGA supporters.
The segment began with a chyron reading: ”Fox News facing more backlash following a series of recent controversies. Host Bob Sellers said Carter is bringing “the latest on Fox going woke.”
And what were the latest “controversies”:
__ Fox News anchor Chris Wallace calling Jen Psaki ”one of the best press secretaries ever.” Carter then contrasted Wallace’s remarks with those of primetime host Tucker Carlson who had referred to Psaki as “a grouchy little flack.”
__ Fox Corp. launching a new weather service that executives said would cover climate change. Carter said that “hard-left NPR gleefully reported” that Fox News’ owners, the Murdoch family, “acknowledge climate change at the corporate level.”
__ Fox News bringing back analyst Arnon Mishkin, who headed the team running its Decision Desk for the 2020 presidential election. Fox was the first major news outlet to call Arizona for Joe Biden, which left Trump furious.Trump
_ Trump blasting Fox News on Sunday, claiming the network “continually allows(s) horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run.”
The ad that got under Trump’s skin was produced by MeidasTouch and the buy was done through a local cable provider for the region around Mar-a-Lago. It was not bought via Fox News ad sales which airs aids nationally and has previously rejected anti-Trump ads. But Newsmax never lets facts get in the way of its propaganda.
Here’s the ad titled “Trump in Hiding” which tried to bait the former guy into campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin in Virginia by calling him “a coward” :
And Carter concluded with this observation that’s sure to leave most of us scratching their heads:
“This has conservatives wondering if Fox is making a permanent hard-left turn.” (If only that were true).
Not to be outdone, Newsmax host Eric Bolling added more fuel to the fire. Bolling is one of several Fox News rejects recruited by Newsmax. Bolling was dismissed in 2017 after an internal investigation into allegations that he sent lewd photographs and text messages to three female colleagues.
Bolling said Fox had a “brilliant” plan to fool conservative viewers.
"Everything they truly believe is aired in the middle of the day when everybody is at work. Then they get home from work and watch evening commentary hosts say the complete opposite of what they reported just hours prior."
And then Bolling tried to make his point by airing a clip of Fox News host Neil Cavuto, who is immunocompromised and recently contracted COVID-19, crediting the vaccines for helping him avoid serious illness and urging viewers to get vaccinated.
“Fox hosts rage against vaccine mandates, yet they work for a company that demands their employees get vaccinated or get tested,” Bolling said. “Their broadcasts are all about that. While their evening shows are anti-mandates, you turn on daytime and you see Neil Cavuto saying the exact opposite.”
By the way, Bolling’s Newsmax show airs in the same time slot as Cavuto’s on Fox News.
And that’s what this rumble on the right is all about. Newmax has been trying to pull MAGA viewers away from Fox News by taking advantage of any opportunity that comes up. And Fox has countered by moving even further to the right.
Newsmax saw it’s viewership surge to 300,000 in December and January when Trump was voicing anti-Fox grievances due to the early Arizona call and openly promoting Newsmax. But in the months after Biden’s inauguration to about 114,000 on July 18, according to Vox. Fox News remains the most-watched cable news network with an average prime-time audience of nearly 2.4 million viewers.
Newsmax didn’t exactly hide its motive in one of the panel discussions Monday about Fox News. Anchor Bob Sellers asked conservative pundit Melanie Collette what she thought Fox is up to.
She responded:
“I think they are moving left. I think that the people who are going to inherit Fox News are bound and determined to move Fox left. I think it’s a big mistake on their part, but I think it brings about a huge opening in the market for Newsmax!”
I guess if you promote the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election, you can try to convince viewers that Fox News is woke and making a hard-left turn.