Fox News Primes Itself for a Shift

[DainBramaged]

When the White House changes occupants this week, it may also change channels.
Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday marks the end of an era for the Fox News Channel, the cable news network of choice during the George W. Bush years.

Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006, said in an interview last week that “a number of people viewed Fox as an outlet that would be more favorable” than other media groups to the Bush administration. He emphasized that this feeling applied to the network’s conservative commentators, not its correspondents.

But the network is showing no concern about the new administration; if anything, it seems re-energized. With a series of program changes this month, Fox News is doubling down on the programming strategy that has made it the No. 1 cable news network for seven years.

Some of the network’s prominent conservative hosts seem invigorated about being back on offense; Sean Hannity, one of television’s foremost voices of opposition to Mr. Obama, introduced a “liberal translator” on his prime-time program last week.

The media world will watch carefully to see whether Fox receives the same treatment from an Obama White House that it received from Mr. Bush’s. And it will wait and see whether Fox can stave off its two primary competitors, CNN and MSNBC, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic that matters most to advertisers.

Fox easily leads the other cable networks in that demographic on a total day basis. But for a couple of important hours, the gap has narrowed. On at least 10 days since the election, Fox’s 9 p.m. program “Hannity & Colmes” has been surpassed in the competition for viewers in that demographic by Rachel Maddow, the new MSNBC host.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19fox.html?_r=1

[Horse with no Name]

1. I'm sure Faux news will find it easier to point fingers and place blame on Democrats

than trying to justify war crimes and other scandals by their own.
It's much easier.

[Dumak]

2. Faux news should be ostracized

because they aren't real journalism.
Kick them out of the white house press corps, or at least move their seats to the back row. Never should any administration members appear on Faux news. There are so many other more deserving news organizations and journalists.

[Berry Cool]

3. Um, I believe the NYT has a typo in this headline.

There's an unnecessary F in the last word.