On the day before their defamation trial was set to take place, Fox "News" decided to put a full page ad in the Washington Post and New York Times that made a highly dubious claim under the circumstances (click to enlarge):
The WaPo's Aaron Blake couldn't help noticing the ad, especially given the facts that have come out about Fox "News" during the pre- trial period:
...You’ll note that the numbers displayed add up to 148 percent. So this isn’t strictly about which one outlet is “most trusted.”
The description of the data in the ad, in fact, shows that the pollster asked about media outlets people watch and then “which do you most trust for news? Check as many as apply.” So 41 is the percentage of people who cited Fox as being among however many outlets they cited as being their most trusted.
You begin to see how this framing might make Fox look good. It is a go-to news source for conservative-leaning Americans, whereas left-leaning Americans split their choices among a number of other mainstream outlets. [snip]
This is about market share. And Fox has had the right-leaning portion of the market cornered for many years.
Blake then cites another YouGov poll from 2022 that paints a more accurate picture of how Fox "News" is perceived:
In its 2022 “Trust in Media” survey for the Economist, YouGov offered a better framing of this question. It mentioned a number of media outlets, and it asked all Americans to offer an up-or-down vote on each one.
Fox did considerably worse by this measure.
While 30 percent of Americans considered it at least “trustworthy,” more than 4 in 10 labeled it “untrustworthy.” Its negative-14 split on trustworthiness vs. untrustworthiness was worse than every other TV news outlet, and it was also worse than 20 of the other 21 media outlets tested. Fox nipped only the conservative news site Breitbart, which came in at negative-15.
Indeed, you could sure make an argument that Fox is actually the least trusted TV outlet, according to the same survey research organization. (our emphasis)
We would definitely make that argument, wouldn't you?
Ultimately, Blake sees what Fox "News" is up to:
In many ways, this is a reflection of what got Fox News in its current pickle, the lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Text messages, emails and other documentation show Fox fretted extensively about losing its dominance among right-leaning and Trump-supporting viewers. So it took great pains to tailor its message to them, even as that meant floating bogus stolen-election theories that had been popular on Newsmax and One America News Network.
“We are not concerned with losing market share to CNN or MSNBC right now,” Fox executive Raj Shah wrote in a Nov. 10, 2020, email, as panic set in at Fox over its actions in calling the 2020 election for Joe Biden. “Our concern is Newsmax and One America News Network.”
The recipient of that email? YouGov employees whom Fox was asking about conducting a survey.
What a bunch of lying, cynical bastards. Like ol' fascist Rupert reportedly said, "It is not red or blue, it is green."
BONUS: Here's the 2022 YouGov poll --
You'll have to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find Fox here on the actual YouGov survey. https://t.co/Vsh8gQGvis pic.twitter.com/ptc1OIUWZP
— Jennifer Mercieca (@jenmercieca) April 17, 2023
