Fox News should rebrand itself "FNC" and stop calling itself a "news" channel

Variety

The conservative cable news channel is more opinion than news these days. "Eventually, Fox News dropped the 'Fair and balanced' tagline — in a rare moment of acknowledgment that it was a lie — and moved deeper into the realm of preaching with the voice of the right wing. Hannity got his own show, and right-leaning commentary crept into all hours of the day," says Michael Schneider. "If you weren’t on board (see Shepard Smith), you were soon on the outs. By the time of the Trump administration, the network had moved on to full-blown propaganda, and not only served as a mouthpiece for Fox News but often set Trump’s agenda. The echo chamber became a cycle of Fox News hosts planting an idea, Trump running with it, and then Fox News reporting it as a Trump idea. But even Fox News couldn’t ignore the reality of Trump’s loss at the polls in November. And that one spark of truth was enough for Trump and his followers to turn against their beloved network. As Trumpists started flocking to even more outlandish misinformation machines like Newsmax and OAN, Fox News decided not to stand by its reporting but instead double down on the noise. And the first few days of the Biden administration back up the fact that Fox News has sprinted even further from the last vestiges of being a news outlet. One night into Biden’s term, and Hannity was already trashing the president’s 'disastrous first week.' And as has been reported, Fox News is adding another conservative opinion host at 7 p.m., which was formerly a news hour. Moreover, clips from Fox News’ opinion hosts have been increasingly shown throughout the day and discussed as news segments. Just as Fox News eventually conceded that it was no longer 'fair and balanced' and dropped that slogan, it’s time for the network to admit it’s not a news channel and stop claiming to be so. You don’t refer to TLC as 'The Learning Channel,' now that 90-day fiancés have long since replaced documentaries on Roman architecture. AMC isn’t American Movie Classics. Even A&E isn’t bold enough to claim that Hoarders, Parking Wars or The First 48 should be on a channel called Arts & Entertainment. So why the 'Fox News' facade?"

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