The group of lawmakers investigating the January 6 riots at the Capitol want as many Americans as possible to learn why and how the attack took place. So they made the rare decision to hold their first public hearing about it at prime time, when many people will be sitting in front of their TVs.
Fox News, the nation’s leading cable news channel, has other plans.
When the hearing begins Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, NBC will move into special reporting mode. CBS will air a special called “Capitol Assault Hearings.” On ABC, its regular prime time slot list will be moved to “Attack on the Capitol: The Investigation – ABC News Special.” MSNBC and CNN will cover all night.
But Fox News will not conduct the hearing. Instead, the network will stick with its usual lineup of conservative hosts: Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
The network said on Monday that its prime-time organizers will cover the event “as warranties of news.” Fox Business, a sister network with fewer viewers, will cover the hearing in person.
Republicans in Washington and conservative commentators attacked the committee hearings – Thursday’s hearing was the first of at least six that the group is scheduled for will hold – as a partisan political stage, produced by Democrats to enhance their chances in the midterm elections. If Fox makes the decision to run it uninterrupted on its cable marquee platform, the news network will be in the dilemma of showing audiences an event that its own characters and guests have enjoyed. times smeared as a farce.
Nicole Hemmer, a historian at Columbia University and author of the book “Reporters of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics,” said Fox News’ decision consistent with a larger conservative argument that the uprising “wasn’t a big deal. ”
“To broadcast it on their little sister network, they’re reinforcing that argument – it doesn’t matter,” she said.
Given the highly polarized view that Americans have seen the work of the selection committee, there’s a long way to go that Fox viewers won’t be amused. In the past, Fox viewers have punished the network for misrepresenting content. After Fox News became the first network in 2020 to call Arizona to President Biden, effectively declaring him a winner and refusing to promote the most extravagant claims of voter fraud, ratings plummeted. Newsmax, a conservative cable news channel willing to air dubious stories about cheating in polls, has seen its ratings temporarily increase.
It was only after Mr. Biden was inaugurated and Fox News started presenting events like Mr. Carlson on January 6 as partisan smokescreens that the network’s ratings recovered.
“The establishment is not calling for an adjustment because they agree that the January 6 hearings were just a political theatrical show and that January 6 was overblown compared to the proportions,” Ms. Hemmer said.
Other networks plan to cover the hearing with their most prominent journalists. Broadcast networks will call their evening news anchors – David Muir, Lester Holt and Norah O’Donnell – to lead two hours of coverage.
Fox’s decision to offer reduced coverage relative to other news networks will affect cable viewers more. According to Fox News Media, Fox News Media’s parent company, the Fox television network, to more homes, was not instructed to screen the hearing. The company said coverage “will be made available to” branches across the country, but is not required, as often happens with major events like the president’s speech.
Fox News hosts have long kept a dim view of the committee. Mr. Carlson called the committee “odd” on his show Monday night, and Mr. Hannity called the group of five Democrats and two Republicans “fake” on its 9 p.m. show. he.
“You’re not going to hear the real story of January 6 anywhere, I don’t think, except here,” Mr. Hannity said Monday night.
Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will headline the Fox News site but will do so on Fox Business. Last month, Fox News averaged 1.5 million viewers at any given time of day; Fox Business averaged 136,000 viewers. The Fox Business feed will also run on its website as well as its streaming service, Fox Nation.
The network said Mr Baier and Ms MacCallum would eventually appear on the Fox News cable network but outside prime time. They will appear at 11 p.m., pre-showing an episode of the online late-night show, “Gutfeld!,” for a two-hour special.
