You Are Only As Good As The Ratings (Updated)

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When it comes to TV, the ONLY thing that matters is ratings.

People might try to tell you that it’s other things, but it is not, it all about ratings.

Want some proof of that?

In 2020, Fox News was one of the most-watched channels on TV, not just cable TV, but all of television. The network set record after record in many rating categories.

Now, we’re just a couple of weeks into the New Year and reports say that Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace are fighting for their jobs.

The Daily Beast says that their boss Rupert Murdoch has swooped in to take a more hands-on role at the network, in the midst of declining ratings.

Fox News ratings have been tumbling since the election and they are in a tough spot. Many viewers are leaving the right-wing network because are not right-wing enough.

Newsmax has seen its ratings tick up, by supporting Trump, lying about the election, and catering their programming to the whacked-out, hard-right viewer that used to watch Fox News.

In other words, Newsmax viewers are the people that think that Fox News does not hate the left enough.

So, after delivering a year of record ratings, now the bosses at Fox News are looking over their shoulder and wondering about their future.

Over at CNN, Jeff Zucker helped drive the ratings into the ground for years. But, since the election, CNN is seeing their best ratings in years.

You see when it comes to cable news, it’s not who sits in the CEO chair that drives ratings, it’s who is sitting in the White House.

With Trump in the White House and Fox News showering him with praise and kissing his ring, they rose to the top of the ratings. Fox hots spewed their hate for the left and help push Trump’s lies and agenda.

But, as the Trump presidency has crashed and burned as no one has ever seen, he has taken Fox News down with him.

Now, Joe Biden steps in and it has been a boom to CNN and MSNBC.

In the end, it shows us two things. First, as we said, it’s about who sits in the Oval Office that props up or drags down cable news’s ratings.

Second, and more importantly, it shows us that cable news is not news at all. It is basically a propaganda arm for a political party. Fox News acted like Trump’s biggest public relations firm, while CNN and MSNBC were running PR for the Democrats. This isn’t news.

I have said it for years, cable news has done as much to divide this country as has Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, or Nancy Pelosi. Basically, their business model is to cheer on their side and at all costs bring down the other side.

No one watching a cable news channel can ever say that they got smarter watching that channel. No one working at a cable news channel can put their head on the pillow at night and think, we made the country a better place.

Wouldn’t it be great if cable news did what it says in each of their names….NEWS?

What if they presented the news, told you all the sides of the story, and then let the viewer make up their own mind?

Do you think if they did that all along, our country would be where it is today.

Donald Trump never would have been elected President if it wasn’t for Fox News or CNN.

Yes, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott’s job might be on the line. But, honestly, is it really a job that anyone would want? Can Scott really feel that she and Fox News has done anything to make the United States a better place?

Maybe she loses her job, but then again, maybe she can find a new job with much more meaning.

Just saying….

Update: In a statement to the Daily Beast story Fox Corporate says, “Your premise is wrong. It is wishful thinking by our competitors.”