The Beginning of the End for Fox: The Normies Have Noticed

I'm not calling Glenn Reynolds a "normie." He's more engaged than a true political "normie."

Nonetheless, he has not, I think, previously slammed Fox for the neoliberal MSNBC-in-Drag that it became two years ago.

Now he is. And his correspondents are writing to him about it.

We've all noticed. It is no longer ignorable.

And we've changed channels to Newsmax, and have been pleased with the product.

SO FAR, THE UNDISPUTED LOSER IN THE ELECTION IS FOX NEWS, BOTH FOR ITS ELECTION-NIGHT COVERAGE AND ITS FOLLOW-ON COVERAGE TODAY. We watched, hated it, and switched to NewsmaxTV and to CNN, which surprisingly did a good, data-driven job. Chris Wallace was the worst. And a former student commented: "That guy who was their expert last night looked like Fauci in a wig. [If] Brett Baier wants his job and to keep paying for his wife's bad Botox, so he had to smile through it." Harsh, but fair.

Posted at 4:25 pm by Glenn Reynold

A report claimed that Drudge's traffic plunged nearly 40% from last year -- and this year, being an election year, should have pasted last year's numbers.

President Donald Trump slammed Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report Sunday and Monday, and while it's subjective to argue whether the right-leaning news aggregator has moved away from positive Trump stories, one thing is true: Drudge's readership is down a whopping 38% from last year.

According to Comscore data, the Drudge Report had 1.488 million unique visitors in July 2020 -- the most recent month for which data is available. That's down 38.0% from July 2019, when the site boasted 2.399 million unique visitors.

Remarking on a post that said the Drudge Report had seen a “historic crash,” the president wrote on Twitter Sunday, "Such an honor! Drudge is down 40% plus since he became Fake News. Most importantly, he's bleeding profusely, and is no longer "hot". But others are! Lost ALL Trumpers."

Fox has followed Drudge in the same doomed quest for Leftwing Acceptance. Drudge lost most of the right without gaining much of the left.

So it was with Marvel and DC, as they chased a Phantom Audience of trans and gender-fluid hipsters who yearned for Red-Blooded Male Adventures and Toxically Masculine Combat Fantasies.

They shed their unfashionable (and yet profitable!) old audience seeking out a new hip trans audience which would also spend $100 on Male Combat Fantasies every month.

This Phantom Audience did not show up, mostly because it simply does not exist.

So it was with the NBA and NFL.

The Murdochs have decided to reposition Fox as a leftwing "news" venture, so they will be accepted by their leftwing social circle again.

I wonder if they counted on losing most of their money while doing so.

Good luck with that guys. I'm sure you'll be the first to buck the Get Woke Go Broke trend.

I imagine that Fox News will be attempting to pressure -- or bribe -- its few assets with actual conservative credibility to push a "Fox Is Your True Conservative Friend" narrative, both behind the scenes and publicly.

But I think Fox's few conservative assets realize that Fox has broken faith with its audience for the last time -- and there is no coming back from this latest McCain-like betrayal.

And I think Fox's few conservative assets have alerted their business managers and agents to begin talking to Newsmax about future contracts.

posted by Ace at 04:53 PM

| Access Comments