The two words are: “FOX NEWS”
If you are a liberal, please allow me to share some facts about Fox News.
Fox News is one of the most successful networks on cable/satellite. That is correct, on cable/satellite, not just cable/satellite news. That includes all cable/satellite channels.
Fox News is by far the most successful cable/satellite news network with more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined. CNN has made some changes that stopped their deteriorating viewer numbers while MSNBC’s decline continues unabated, much to NBC’s distress.
Viewer numbers change based on special events like presidential debates, but on an average night CBS news will have 5.5 million viewers, NBC 5.2, ABC 4.1 and they are not growing. Fox will have 3.1 to 3.3 and growing. The significant points here are that Fox is only about 20 years old and you have to pay a monthly fee to view it on Dish or a similar network. In some cases this fee is significant and in some rural areas access is limited. ABC, CBS, and NBC have been around since the beginning of broadcast TV and if you have a working antenna system they are free.
Fox has by far the largest, most diverse, overall most qualified, most experienced and consequently the most highly compensated professional staff in the business. Many are New York Times “best selling authors” and contribute substantially to a variety of charities. Examples are Bill O’Reillly who raises millions of dollars for charities like the Track Chairs for Disabled Veterans group, Greta Van Susteren who was recruited from CNN in the late 1990’s, just celebrated the broadcast of her 3500 th. show and funds an orphanage in Africa where she is known as Mama Greta. Dana Perino who was raised on a ranch in Colorado, rose up to become the Senior Press Secretary for president George W Bush and volunteers on the annual hospital ship trips to Africa. Many were also very successful attorneys, some having clerked at the Supreme Court, like Megyn Kelly. And Kimberly Guilfole, whose parents were immigrants. She is Irish Puerto Rican. Her mom died when she was young and she had to help raise her younger brother while working her way through high school, college and law school. After law school she became a highly regarded federal prosecutor in San Francisco. There are many stories like these among the Fox News staff, and that does not even include the Fox Business staff, which is equally amazing!
Most of the host are not registered Republicans. They are registered Independents or Libertarians. A small number are Liberals, but most, unlike many Liberals do not wear their “feelings on their sleeve”. They work at being professional.
In the overwhelming majority of the discussions on almost all the topics there are always both sides of the issue represented, with equal time given to both. In most cases the hosts are equally intense when questioning whoever is representing either side of the issue(s) being discussed when they feel their researched facts are being distorted. Facts researched and documents by an extensive research staff referred to as the “Brain Room” which seems to be working 24/7.
So how does Fox afford all this and continue to grow? It is simple math. It is due to its GRP”s (gross rating points). That is the standard used to determine the prices all media, print and broadcast, can charge for advertising. Gross rating points are calculated by “reach times frequency”, how many potential customers will see or hear the advertising and how many times will they be exposed to it during a specified media run? The more GRP’s a potential advertiser wants to buy in a specific demographic the more it cost. With Fox’s broad reach and expanding demographics, which are easier to define with cable/satellite it can raise more revenue than most of its competitors.
OK, Still with me? Come back for Blog Post # 3 for even more information as to why you should stop listening to your biased and uniformed friends; use both sides of your brain and watch Fox News, at least periodically.