The Democratic Party Convention presents a delicate challenge for Fox News Channel: How to report on a party that is suddenly enthusiastic about its election chances when a large part of the channel’s audience has a different political view?
During the Democrats’ first two days, Fox personalities called the event “boring” and “full of hate.” The focus was on demonstrations outside the arena, while many of the speakers inside were not heard on television. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris was given nicknames like “the princess” and “Comrade Kamala.”
“We’re at the DNC,” Sean Hannity joked, “so you don’t have to be.”
Fox’s broadcast illustrated the challenges of covering news events on networks that feature both breaking news and partisan talk, sometimes mixed in with others — where opinion leaders like Hannity, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Van Jones mingle freely with reporters and blur lines. During the Republican National Convention last month, the liberal-leaning MSNBC Nikki Haley cut off in favor of a discussion about how she humiliated herself and completely ignored Ron DeSantis.
The Republicans’ feel-good event gave Fox News the largest audience ever for a cable network at its convention – a feat at a time when millions of Americans are canceling their subscriptions – and a staggering 10.4 million people tuned in for the opening moments of former President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech, the Nielsen company said.
No one expected such numbers for Fox this week, where 93 percent of people who called it their primary news source identified themselves as Republicans in a 2019 Pew Research Center poll. Fox’s audience has shown a pronounced tendency to switch off from news that does not reflect their beliefs, such as the committee hearings of January 6.
Fox had 2.5 million viewers for Monday’s DNC coverage, compared to 6.9 million on the first night of the Republican convention a month ago.
Don’t mince your words
The hosts of “The Five,” Fox’s most-watched show, set the stage for Democrats’ week with bluntness. “You can’t believe anything the Democrats tell you,” Jesse Watters said. “It’s all lies… There’s no joy here. The only joy is that Joe is gone.”
Watters said “nobody believes” that the economy is good or that Polls show Harris is catching up quickly against Trump since he replaced Biden at the top of the electoral list are real. Later Monday night, Watters declared the event boring, saying, “This is like a convention your boss sends you to.” Hannity described the convention as “dramatic far-left protesters outside and engineered unity, deception and lies inside.”
Fox moderators unanimously rejected the Democrats’ interpretation that Biden had committed a selfless act by not seeking re-election, and described the president’s appearance on Monday as more humiliating than a farewell gesture. “They had to rip this job away from him like they were a drunk’s car keys,” said Greg Gutfeld, who had referred to former President Obama as the “Barack Knifer.”
Harris was portrayed as an inexperienced, risky choice. The on-screen messages, the chyrons, during Laura Ingraham’s show made that clear: “Democrats are too confident in their unproven support,” read one. Others: “Kamala’s all talk, no substance” and “Comrade Kamala is failing economics.”
“It’s like booking tickets for the Titanic,” said analyst Keith Kellogg.
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For most of Hannity’s broadcast on Tuesday, an on-screen camera was focused on a nonviolent protest outside the convention. “The convention was filled with hate,” Hannity said, “instead of the politics of joy you were promised.”
Who made it and who didn’t
Fox News has made Democrats available for interviews this week, including Harris’ co-chair Cedric Richmond, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingel and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. Fox said bookings from Democrats are up 40% from last year and its sister network is providing full coverage of the convention speeches.
Fox says she is just as present at the DNC in Chicago as she was at the Republican convention in Chicago last month. She rejects the notion that she is unwilling to represent the Democrats’ point of view.
“Nowhere else can you reach the engaged and politically diverse audience that FNC offers,” Fox said in a statement.
Fox aired Biden’s speech in full on Monday night, as well as several other moments, including Harris’ brief surprise address that took place during Hannity’s show. Both Barack and Michelle Obama were aired on Tuesday night. Speeches by Hillary Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — both deeply unpopular with many in the Fox audience — were also aired in full. Fox’s Dana Perino said Ocasio-Cortez gave a great speech, “but it didn’t make sense.”
Several speaking appearances that were covered elsewhere went unheard on Fox News Channel: Olympic basketball coach Steve Kerr, UAW President Shawn Fain, Reverend Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Fox analyst Brit Hume complained that a panel of women discussing abortion policy spoke for too long — even though the network did not track their remarks.
Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the conservative Media Research Center, said Fox is sending its viewers shows in a similar way to how Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow say they won’t show Trump. due to concerns that he would lie, “but that’s because they don’t want to see it.”
Brian Stelter, author of “Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump and the Battle for American Democracy,” said Fox News Channel was aware of the importance of the convention for the news but did not give his eyes an unvarnished view of what was said.
“Fox listened very little and talked a lot,” he said.
Interestingly, Monday saw an attempt by the two campaigns to go beyond friendly territory: The Harris campaign ran a commercial on Fox, while Trump advertised on CNN.
Fox was particularly careful not to jeopardize audience loyalty. Concerns about audience anger at Fox following its coverage of the 2020 presidential election were cited as evidence of Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation suit against Fox. This suit was completed when Fox agreed to pay $787 million.
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David Bauder writes about media for AP. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
