Lachlan Murdoch Says Biden Administration Will Be Good For Fox News Ratings: ‘Our Job’ is to Be the ‘Loyal Opposition’
(Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said that the chief role of Fox News is to be the “loyal opposition” to the administration of President Joe Biden.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecom conference Thursday, Murdoch said that rival network MSNBC was the “main beneficiary” of the presidency of Donald Trump. “They were the loyal opposition, and that’s what our job is now,” NBC and MSNBC media reporter Dylan Byers said in a tweet.
+ “The main benefciary of the Trump administration from a ratings points of view was MSNBC… and that’s because they’re the loyal opposition… that’s what our job is now with the Biden administration, and you’ll see our ratings really improve from here.” – Lachlan Murdoch
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 4, 2021
Murdoch also addressed Fox News ratings.
Fox CEO Murdoch: ‘We don’t get emotional’ about Fox News ratings…Expected a dip in audience post-election cycle…’That happened exactly as we projected’
— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) March 4, 2021
“We don’t get emotional” about Fox News ratings, Murdoch said, according to Variety’s Brian Steinberg. The company expected a post-election ratings dip, which “happened exactly as we projected,” Murdoch reportedly said, adding that for MSNBC and CNN, the “spikes [in ratings] have come back down to earth.”
Fox was the most-watched cable news network in 2020, seeing its highest-rated year yet, but it also dropped in the ratings after the 2020 presidential election, while both CNN and MSNBC saw historic highs. However, since the start of the year, Fox’s ratings have started to make a comeback.
Murdoch also reaffirmed the network’s commitment to its audience. “Seventy-five million people voted for a Republican president, sometimes in spite of his personality at times … that’s what we represent. We’re going to stick to the center-right. That’s where our audience is,” Byers reported.
Marisa Sarnoff was a researcher at Fox News from 2015-2020.
