DrLove
Diamond Member
Well, here we go. Fox is losing so many viewers to Newsmax and OAN that they decided they'd better start dishing up Q-style Kookery. Bad decision is ya ask me. They could have gotten rid of Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham and picked up a wide swath of more centrist viewers who appreciate real journalism from guys like Chris Wallace and Shep Smith. Sad - VERY sad actually.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have latched onto a new conspiracy theory in the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency and the beginning of Joe Biden’s, telling viewers that the incoming president and the federal government are attempting to intimidate and silence conservatives—and using footage of the heightened military presence in Washington, D.C. to support their claim. As thousands of National Guard troops streamed into Washington from across the country in the wake of the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump extremists—a movement Fox’s conspiracy-filled election coverage helped fuel—Hannity on Monday claimed Democrats are behind “a chilling, Orwellian effort … to silence, cancel, any opposition voices,” while Carlson pointed to the sight of the fortified capital ahead of the inauguration as a show of force from Democrats intending to send the message: “Do not question us. Men with guns enforce our decrees,” Axios reports.
The new, unfounded conspiracy seems like an attempt to unify pro-Trump viewers ahead of the transfer of power, the traditionally peaceful nature of which was thrown into question amid new threats of violence from right-wing extremists emboldened by the Capitol attack. It’s also an indication of the direction the network may take in a post-Trump world, when there’s no president to spin conspiracies via tweet for its talking heads to parrot. Based on several reports, the network plans to put a renewed emphasis on its opinion section. At least 16 of Fox News’s editorial employees, including senior editors, were fired on Tuesday—layoffs the network claimed are part of a “restructuring” initiative but that others characterized as a “purge,” the Daily Beast reports. Of the dozen current and recently departed staffers who spoke with the outlet, all said the layoffs are part of a broader change underway at Fox, described by the Daily Beast as an attempt “to pivot its website from straight-news reporting to right-wing opinion content in the mold of Fox’s primetime programming.”
Fox News Has a Brand New Conspiracy for the Biden Era
As Fox stars spin the heightened military presence in Washington into a conspiracy theory about silencing conservatives, an internal reshuffling at the network seems to put straight news on the back burner.
www.vanityfair.com