I’m all for competition, especially on the battlefield of ideas. It makes all involved better. Without competition, no records would be broken, no championships would be won — life would be boring. That’s why I support the idea of a competitor to Fox News and its dominance on cable — the more the merrier. A serious competitor or two would make them tighten up ship. It would be a win all around.
But since the election, something odd has happened. People who used to love Fox are now attacking it because they don’t like what is being said on it.
I understand why President Trump is critical of Fox calling Joe Biden “President-elect.” He is fighting both a legal battle and a public relations one, so it makes sense. But for the average Trump supporter to get so mad over it that they’ve launched an attack on the network, with some swearing it off, is nuts.
Fox News is the only place where the president gets a fair shake among big media outlets. Yes, there are newer alternatives, but they don’t yet have the infrastructure and reporters to cover the world the way Fox can (they’re aided immeasurably by being owned by someone who owns news outlets around the globe). These challengers are working their way there, but for now, Fox is the only game around.
Moreover, Fox is the only place where stories of interest to conservatives are reported on TV, and Republican ideals are discussed in a serious non- “these people are Hitler reincarnated” kind of way. That’s hugely important.
Are there people who are sometimes rude or disrespectful to conservative guests or the sensibilities of the audience? Of course. But this isn’t unique to Fox. Every couple of weeks, Meet the Press accidentally has an actual conservative on their panel and #FireChuckTodd starts trending on social media. Conservatives should not be like those people.
Fox News was the only place on the national stage to interview Tony Bobulinski, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, during the election. Would the country be better off if that hadn’t happened? Of course not.
How many stories only went viral because they were reported on Fox? Twitter is great for spreading videos of violent BLM-Antifa goons destroying cities and attacking people, but those videos reached their widest audience thanks to hosts on Fox. Imagine what would have become of those stories were it not for that magnification. Should that megaphone be tossed in the trash simply because some people on the network report things people don’t like?
What makes Fox different from CNN and MSNBC is they have actual Democrats on their shows too. Imagine that, elected Republican and Democrat guests discussing what they are trying to do. It’s really the only place on television where Republicans can reach an audience of millions.
Moreover, the Fox prime-time lineup is unapologetically conservative. MSNBC has their left-wing all-stars, CNN has liberals pretending to be journalists, and Fox has Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham. Imagine any election’s outcome without that lineup.
Can’t we handle differing opinions? I’m all for holding liberals to the standards they set for others, but I oppose becoming like leftists and living in a bubble for fear that someone might say something people don’t want to hear.
Liberals try to silence conservatives because they know we win when people hear what we have to say; conservatives want liberals to continue speaking because we know the more people hear them, the more repulsed by their ideals they become.
All day on Fox News, but especially on their prime-time lineup, is the only place you can go to hear the news leftists love to pretend doesn’t exist. That they might, occasionally, have someone on saying something the audience doesn’t like is not a reason to behave like a leftist.
Fox News isn’t the problem, reality is. And you don’t change reality by denying it. You change that by engaging in it.
