President Donald Trump and his allies are seeking an alternative news network that would promote the agenda of the president after feelings of frustration grew in the president’s camp over a perceived change in the loyalty of Fox News. Fox News was one of the mainstream media networks that projected Joe Biden as the winner of the election in the recently concluded presidential election.
The president and his supporters have now switched their focus to Newsmax and One America News – the news network that has picked up the mantle from Fox News. They’ve promoted Trump in recent days, claiming that the president won the 2020 presidential race.
Newsmax and One America News have benefited from their staunch support of the president, having seen their ratings rise recently. Newsmax has gone from 100,000 views a day to about one million per night. Viewership has especially risen on the network due largely to its highly-rated host, Greg Kelly, whose show has won the hearts of Trump’s supporters. He claims Trump will eventually retrieve his stolen mandate and lead America for another four years.
CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter said Sunday that Fox News might be in for a very tough competition like never witnessed before. Trump was instrumental to Fox News’s rise in ratings and viewership. The president also contributed to the high ratings for most of its hosts. However, Trump’s criticism of the network in a tweet last Sunday may turn his supporters away from Fox News. The president told his millions of Twitter followers to turn to Newsmax and One America News. With this development, Fox News is set to witness a dip in ratings, CNN reports.
Stelter said there was a demand for another type of reality by Trump’s supporters – a reality where Trump was re-elected as president. And with these networks ready to provide such content, demand is only expected to go higher. Newsmax regularly promotes the president’s claims of voter fraud and has refused to declare Biden the winner.
For over a decade, Fox News held firm control over right-wing TV. Now, its monopoly is set to be broken. Fox News had called in Arizona for Biden, even when other news waited a while to do so. This move made many right-wing viewers question the network’s loyalty.
Allies of the president have taken a step further to raise talks over the acquisition of Newsmax TV, in a move that will give them firm control over the content of the network. Hicks Equity Partners is an investment firm with ties to the Republican Party. The firm is touted to be in a pole position to buy over the network.
A former Fox News contributor and Democratic strategist, Julie Roginsky, said TV anchors are under a lot more pressure today to give viewers the content they prefer. She concluded that Trump has become like a drug to his followers and the only content that promotes the president is what they’re demanding.
Source: slate.com
