Saturday, January 30, 2010
Watch out. America is moving to the right, and it's happening fast. The vote in Massachusetts was an ideological earthquake whose tremors are still being felt all over the country. When a big-government guy like President Obama takes to the lectern to announce he wants to freeze some federal spending, you know hell might be freezing over, as well.
But nowhere is the rejection of liberal doctrine seen more clearly than in the television news industry. Last week, Fox News Channel, the only network that has brought some scrutiny to Obama from the beginning, was the No. 1 rated cable operation in America. If you listen closely, you can hear SpongeBob and Hannah Montana weeping.
In addition, the Democratic outfit Public Policy Polling released a stunning scientific survey. It asked Americans which TV news operation they trusted. Hide the kids; here are the results:
Fox News: 49 percent trust, 37 percent don't trust.
ABC News: 31 percent trust, 46 percent don't trust
NBC News: 35 percent trust, 44 percent don't trust
CBS News: 32 percent trust, 46 percent don't trust
CNN: 39 percent trust, 41 percent don't trust
This is a rout. Nearly half the country trusts FNC, and nobody else is even close. Can you imagine the Fox bashers at NBC and The New York Times reading this poll? I'd pay to see the reaction.
Fox News can thank Obama for all of this. From the beginning of his astounding rise, most of the mainstream media loved him. Ask Hillary Clinton. But FNC treated presidential candidates Clinton, Obama and John McCain pretty much the same. We scrutinized them all. In fact, the McCain campaign kept the senator off my program fearing tough questioning.
But it was the scrutiny of Obama and the exposure of people like Jeremiah Wright that brought Fox News bitter criticism from the left. And the folks saw that. They watched as FNC was bashed all over the place. Today, many Americans have lost some confidence in the president, and they remember who was in the tank for him and who was not.
According to a new Gallup Poll, 64 percent of Americans believe the American media are not watching the Obama administration closely enough. Clearly, news consumers are asking the press to get back to the basics: Stop cheerleading and start reporting. Look out for the folks.
Because Fox News Channel gives voice to both the right and the left, while most of the other networks are heavily invested in liberal philosophy, when the country moves into a more conservative mode, it will be reflected in their television choices. It is hard to believe that uber-liberal media outlets that trumpeted government-run health care and civilian trials for terrorists will prosper anytime soon.
No, the winds of political change are buffeting the "progressive" press. They had a brief shining moment last year. But now that's all gone.
Townhall
