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Home business strategy

Fox Is Not A News Channel

by Dana Blankenhorn
March 10, 2007
in business strategy, Communications Policy, entertainment, journalism, politics, Television
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Fox_news_radio_logo_1
That’s not a political point. It’s a simple fact.

FoxNews is a talk channel. Increasingly its so-called rivals in so-called cable "news" are also running talk channels.

When CNN Headline News has on Nancy Grace or Glenn Beck, they’re not doing news, they’re doing talk. The same thing happens when MSNBC has on Tucker Carlson, or when CNN shows Larry King. When Wolf Blitzer throws to Andrea Koppel in the Capitol, that’s news. When he stands around the table with Carville and J.C. Watts, that’s talk.

Talk is not news. Talk is talk. Talk is not subject to news judgment. It’s subject to ratings judgment. And financial judgment. People who host talk shows are talent. People who do news are journalists. Fox hires talent.

The innovation FoxNews brought to cable was to replace news with talk across the board.  They got higher ratings, made more money, but lowered their costs. 

Bill_oreilly
Regardless of your politics, you can check this out for yourself by
doing what is called a "content analysis," a basic exercise of the
journalistic art.

You download a full day of the product. You measure
the amount of news they do — covering stories, people in the field,
talking heads reading headlines. You measure the amount of talk they do
— people chatting in a studio. You should also measure the amount of
advertising they run, and the amount of "house advertising"
(advertising for themselves) they run. (I know, the image to the left is from a liberal attack on Fox.)

What you will find is that FoxNews is at least 80% talk.
Fox&Friends is talk. Hannity&Colmes is talk. Bill O’Reilly is
talk. It doesn’t matter, for purposes of this exercise, what they’re
talking about, or what they are saying. The fact is they’re talking.
They are sitting in a studio and they are talking. (The Today Show, and its imitators, are also, mostly, talk.)

When you do the same content analysis regarding CNN and MSNBC you’re also going
to find a lot of talk. But you’re also going to find a lot of news.
CNN, during the day, is mostly news. MSNBC, during the day, is mostly
talk, although they do throw to news that’s standing still —
courtrooms, car chases (which are covered by someone else so they’re
standing still for MSNBC), news conferences. Keith Olbermann is doing
news-talk — each segment he does offers both. It’s also heavily scripted
(unlike most of Fox) so it costs more than plain talk. (Parts of O’Reilly’s show are also scripted. Scripts take planning, and cost money. Talk is cheap.)
Keith_olbermann_2
Again this is not about politics. This is about costs. This is a business story. Talk costs less
than news, a lot less. And talk can draw better ratings than news, a
lot better. The Fox innovation was to practically eliminate news (which
costs money) in favor of talk (which doesn’t).

So why is anyone, no matter their politics, treating FoxNews as a "News" channel?

Tags: Bill O'Reillycablecable business modelsCable NewsCNNcontent analysisFox NewsGlenn BeckjournalismKeith OlbermannMSNBC
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Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn began his career as a financial journalist in 1978, began covering technology in 1982, and the Internet in 1985. He started one of the first Internet daily newsletters, the Interactive Age Daily, in 1994. He recently retired from InvestorPlace and lives in Atlanta, GA, preparing for his next great adventure. He's a graduate of Rice University (1977) and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism (MSJ 1978). He's a native of Massapequa, NY.

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Comments 2

  1. KALKI GUAR says:
    18 years ago

    KALKI RADIO ELECTION ZONE 2008- by KALKI GAUR
    Washington DC, March 10, 2007 (1) KALKI GAUR SYNDICATION OF RADIO ELECTION ZONE: Kalki Gaur, the world’s leading Philosopher, Thinker and Patron-Saint of Neo-Conservatism heading the worldwide Syndication of ‘RADIO ELECTION ZONE’ in hundreds of American Radio Stations and Television Stations, Satellite Radio Channels, Satellite Television Channels to provide new Radio and Television platform for the interplay of competing forces, pressure groups, interest groups, lobbyists, political movers and shakers to leave their impact on American Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional Elections 2008. If you are a power to be or some hidden interest lurking behind the political curtains, it is time that you come out open and sponsor a Talk show focusing on your Issue or Interest. Kalki Gaur will organize a Talk show on your Topic and Issue and invite important Speakers to use this Talk Show as a platform to register their point of view. The voters will have opportunity to vote on which side appeals to them more. If you are a political gladiator then you cannot afford to miss out on Radio Election Zone 2008. Come and mortally slay your political opponents and win over your voters by articulating yours views on Radio Election Zone. Political Pundits forecast that Kalki Radio Election Zone 2008, will catapult Digital Radio Networks equal to Television Networks as favored electronic medium to reach and influence voting behavior of American voters in Elections 2008. It is music to the owners of Radio Stations, as it would hike up the political advertising revenues and advertisement rates of the Radio Stations. Independent Research of 10,008 American voters revealed that political talk show influence American voting behavior more than political advertisements in major network television. Moral of story, save you political campaign dollar, buy advertising airtime in Kalki Radio Election Zone 2008, if you want to win the election in November 2008. – KALKI GAUR- ELECTION ZONE 2008 TALK SHOW HOST KALKI GAUR

    Reply
  2. KALKI GUAR says:
    18 years ago

    KALKI RADIO ELECTION ZONE 2008- by KALKI GAUR
    Washington DC, March 10, 2007 (1) KALKI GAUR SYNDICATION OF RADIO ELECTION ZONE: Kalki Gaur, the world’s leading Philosopher, Thinker and Patron-Saint of Neo-Conservatism heading the worldwide Syndication of ‘RADIO ELECTION ZONE’ in hundreds of American Radio Stations and Television Stations, Satellite Radio Channels, Satellite Television Channels to provide new Radio and Television platform for the interplay of competing forces, pressure groups, interest groups, lobbyists, political movers and shakers to leave their impact on American Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional Elections 2008. If you are a power to be or some hidden interest lurking behind the political curtains, it is time that you come out open and sponsor a Talk show focusing on your Issue or Interest. Kalki Gaur will organize a Talk show on your Topic and Issue and invite important Speakers to use this Talk Show as a platform to register their point of view. The voters will have opportunity to vote on which side appeals to them more. If you are a political gladiator then you cannot afford to miss out on Radio Election Zone 2008. Come and mortally slay your political opponents and win over your voters by articulating yours views on Radio Election Zone. Political Pundits forecast that Kalki Radio Election Zone 2008, will catapult Digital Radio Networks equal to Television Networks as favored electronic medium to reach and influence voting behavior of American voters in Elections 2008. It is music to the owners of Radio Stations, as it would hike up the political advertising revenues and advertisement rates of the Radio Stations. Independent Research of 10,008 American voters revealed that political talk show influence American voting behavior more than political advertisements in major network television. Moral of story, save you political campaign dollar, buy advertising airtime in Kalki Radio Election Zone 2008, if you want to win the election in November 2008. – KALKI GAUR- ELECTION ZONE 2008 TALK SHOW HOST KALKI GAUR

    Reply

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