Fox News is Betraying Its Own Viewers — and Selling Out the Country — With Disgraceful Decision Not to Air Jan. 6 Hearing

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News broke Monday evening that Fox News will not show the first session of the January 6th Select Committee Hearing, and will instead air its regular partisan opinion programming, featuring hosts who have relentlessly attacked the investigation into the attack on the Capitol.

Judged entirely from a business perspective, the decision to ignore the hearings and instead run counter-programming for a loyal viewership not interested in re-litigating the events of that day makes a lot of sense, in terms of advertising revenue.

It also goes without saying that these hearings will be incredibly embarrassing for Fox News, given network hosts privately urged then-President Donald Trump to stop the attack, while absolving him of responsibility for it on air.

But in terms of journalistic standards, or even from a desire to keep an audience well-informed, the decision is nothing short of disgraceful — and damaging to the nation.

The decision is as clear as evidence to date that Fox News has far less interest in a well-informed audience and instead prioritizes profits over principles (though long time critics will guffaw at the notion that there have been any journalistic principles in play in Fox News prime time for at least five years.)

Now to be fair, Fox News is not ignoring the proceedings entirely. The network made the odd decision to move its top news anchors, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, over to Fox Business to cover the hearings. They will also be streamed on Fox Nation and FoxNews.com. They are also providing the feed to any local Fox broadcast affiliates who choose to take it.

But the sum total audience of those platforms combined presents a different set of viewers compared to the roughly three million viewers that regularly tune into Fox News most nights.

Fox News has announced they will cover the proceedings and cut in when they feel it is warranted.  Mediaite’s Kipp Jones reported Monday night on Fox’s plans to cover the hearing this Thursday:

The hosts will cut in to the proceeding when or if they feel doing so is warranted, the network said.

Fox stated while its flagship station will not cover the hearing in full, live coverage will be “offered to FOX broadcast affiliates across any of their platforms.”

The hearing will also be carried without interruption on Fox News Digital, Fox News Audio and Fox Nation.

The network added Fox News viewers who do wish to watch the hearing in full can tune in to Fox Business Network. Network hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will anchor special coverage for the hearing over on Fox Business Network.

At 11 p.m. ET, Shannon Bream will join the duo for a two-hour reaction special back on Fox News Channel.

Gutfeld! will be preempted as a result.

Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham will not be replaced by the hearings, but they will cut into the hearings when it is editorially decided that there are newsworthy moments worth sharing for its viewers… Let’s go live to watch Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy call bullshit on the proceedings.

This isn’t the behavior of a news network. While it’s true that all cable networks put a big emphasis on ratings, covering important news is still (thankfully) seen as a vital responsibility. In this instance, Fox News has largely ignored that responsibility, operating more like a partisan blog that covers whatever news gets the most traffic, responsibility be damned.

Fox News is an entertainment outlet packaged as a news outlet. Many have made this argument against MSNBC and CNN — which is a fair one — but the evidence is simply not as damning.

Here’s the thing: Fox News is a ratings giant, and its political influence is somehow even bigger. Its current audience is more than CNN and MSNBC combined. And given the hyper-partisan and politically balkanized country in which we currently find ourselves, it’s more important that Fox News viewers watch these hearings than anyone else.

The executives at Fox News made a business decision to not air these hearings and they will likely reap revenue and ratings rewards. Viewers will be worse off. And so to will the nation.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.