Is this a case of life imitating political polemics?
It seemed almost trite when some predicted the Fox News Channel wouldn’t air the live primetime House Select Committee hearing on the January 6 coup attempt. But guess what has now happened?
Fox News announced that it will stick to its regularly schedule program of Tucker Carlson and not air the hearing uninterrupted. It’ll be business as usual for Carlson who reportedly will cut to the live hearings as needed and can be expected to mock the hearings or try to discredit them. While ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN will become CSPAN for an evening, offering the hearings in full in prime time, Fox News will offer counterprogram for those who believe January 6 was about a bunch of tourist-like protesters who got a bum rap from the media and that Donald Trump had the 2020 Presidential election stolen from him.
Not that Fox News won’t offer the hearings elsewhere.
The Fox Business channel — with less than 100,000 viewers — will carry the hearings live.
Then, at 11 p.m., Fox News will air a two hour “reaction” special. What surprises and serious analysis can we expect then?
Talk radio first became a powerhouse conservative Republican townhall when ratings-king Rush Limbaugh went national. The Fox News Channel was created grafting the “political entertainment” walk radio business model onto a traditional news model.
While those who contend Fox News doesn’t have “real” journalists are not correct, neither are those who call Fox News a real news channel.
Fox News can't risk viewers getting news in real time. Everything has to be pre-chewed and regurgitated to Fox fans https://t.co/9ZL4eEh195
— Pat Bagley (@Patbagley) June 7, 2022
CBS ABC NBC CNN are all covering the Jan 6 hearings LIVE. @FoxNews is the only major channel that isn't.
Why won't @SeanHannity @TuckerCarlson @IngrahamAngle join the rest? No opinion, no editing, just real time coverage. Because they’re scared of what their viewers will see.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 7, 2022
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC will all air Thursday’s primetime hearing of the bipartisan January 6th Committee. So it looks like Fox News is the only major “news” network that won’t air it. They gotta keep their viewers ignorant and angry. https://t.co/nh8em9CYoa
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) June 7, 2022
Fox News is trying to memory hole January 6 because they know it makes Republicans look indefensibly bad https://t.co/kHfmKRqGn3
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) June 7, 2022
Fox's top news anchors will be moved over to the Fox Business Network, and they will cover the hearing there. At 8pm ET on an ordinary night, Fox News has more than 3 million viewers, while Fox Business has under 100,000. That pretty much says it all about Fox's priorities.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 6, 2022
FOX News is not airing the J6 Committee hearings. My 90 year-old dad is a FOX News-watching Republican.
My dad will not know what comes out in the hearings because his source for news will withhold it, or lie about it.
There are millions like him. What is the Dem plan???— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) June 7, 2022
Why is prime time @FoxNews scared to show the bipartisan January 6 Committee hearings? https://t.co/RETcBT0O8X
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 7, 2022
If you work for @FoxNews and want to maintain your credibility as a journalist, now is a good time to speak out, or quit. Enough is enough. https://t.co/zASss6kWUA
— Adam Kinzinger?????? (@AdamKinzinger) June 7, 2022
Radicalization includes suppression of truth: Fox News to Skip Primetime Coverage of Jan. 6 Committee Hearings https://t.co/ZgfcWmmOKF
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) June 7, 2022
Fox News will not televise the 1/6 Committee hearings because they are part of the insurrection the hearings are meant to expose.
— Duty To Warn ? (@duty2warn) June 7, 2022
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.