Fox keeps tuning Trump out
President Trump keeps holding midterm rallies, and Fox News keeps choosing not to air the rallies live. It’s a programming decision with huge political and cultural significance.
For Trump, it’s like being deprived of oxygen. He keeps posting about his frustrations with Fox. But Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s network evidently doesn’t think his speeches are worth showing in full right now, which speaks volumes about this political moment.
The implication: Fox agrees with the GOP candidates and strategists who are privately fretting about Trump hurting their chances in the midterms.
Fox’s response is to basically turn him off. Perhaps the Murdochs believe the network’s opinion hosts are better messengers for the party than the president himself, especially now, as Trump’s approval ratings are hitting record lows.
“We talk so much about how Trump is the ‘executive producer in chief’ but often forget that even the most popular shows tend to run out of steam after one season too many,” veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye told me.
“That’s exactly where we are and why — whether you’re in Lake of the Ozarks or Emmetsburg, Iowa, fewer Trump flags are being flown every day,” Heye added.
The treatment of Trump’s rallies is a sensitive subject for Fox. The network isn’t publicly saying anything about the matter. But current and former hosts say a freighted calculation is being made.
“This is coming from the top down,” a current Fox host said on condition of anonymity. The host said they didn’t officially know the reasons why, but said the conventional wisdom at the network right now is that “Trump doesn’t rate anymore.”
Remember, when the GOP held that midterm convention show in Dallas, the ratings needle barely moved when Fox carried Trump’s speeches live. Trump has since resorted to misleading people about the ratings.
In the past week, Fox has largely skipped covering five rallies, including the most recent one in San Antonio, Texas last night. Fox had a correspondent in the room, Brooke Taylor, but she only appeared twice on air. In her 7 p.m. live shot, Taylor noted Trump’s dilemma: “This is a state he won by nearly 14 points just two years ago, and now he’s finding himself back here in Texas defending this state and keeping it red. I mean, hard to believe those words are even coming out of my mouth, right?”
Host Laura Ingraham then moved right along. Fox’s prime time shows never returned to the rally. Fox did live-stream Trump’s speech online, but for the president, not getting attention on the flagship channel is undoubtedly a slight.
A person familiar with the network’s inner workings said “there is no top-down order” to avoid Trump’s rallies, and described the chatter as “uninformed speculation.”
Here’s my complete column for CNN.com about all this…
Currently leading the Wall Street Journal’s homepage is its most-read story today, a jaw-dropping bombshell about a familiar media face: Kimberly Guilfoyle, the longtime Fox host turned Trump family insider turned US ambassador to Greece.
Ahead of her confirmation hearing in July, Guilfoyle pressed Trump donor Eric Deters to wire $100,000 directly to her AmEx account, saying “it won’t show up anywhere,” Dana Mattioli, Drew Hinshaw, Rebecca Ballhaus and Joe Parkinson report. Their scoop includes screenshots showing her offering to lobby top administration officials over Deters’ tax and legal issues (including Kash Patel, whom she called “cash Patel”) while repeatedly warning him against documenting their arrangement: “You’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing.”
Deters never sent her the cash. Guilfoyle’s lawyer disputed the messages’ authenticity without providing specifics and said she was owed unpaid speaking fees. Read the full story here…
A notable bit of detail in a TV pool note upon Trump’s arrival back in DC last night:
“For awareness, Fox senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich was traveling unilaterally in the correspondent seat. During the flight, she went to the front of the plane for a lengthy off the record conversation with President Trump in her capacity as White House Correspondents’ Association President. They discussed his ban on media outlets and she advocated for press access.”
I hear Heinrich was up front for at least 40 minutes. The timing is intriguing, since…
Ted Boutrous will be back in court on behalf of CNN, MS NOW and Politico this morning. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly will hear arguments at 11 a.m. Eastern on whether to grant the media outlets’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
“Kelly indicated he intends to rule ‘expeditiously’ on the request for a longer-term block that would remain in effect while the litigation continues,” MS NOW’s Fallon Gallagher wrote.
CNN’s live story about the hearing is up and running now; you can follow along here, and I’ll have updates on TV…
And that brings us back to Heinrich. In a new profile by the LAT’s Stephen Battaglio, the WHCA president gets to the bigger issue at stake.
“When you empower the president to select who is allowed to ask them questions, it shrinks the room,” Heinrich said. She is acutely aware that the shoe may very well be on the other foot one day. “If Trump’s ban stands, conservative news organizations could find themselves facing similar restrictions the next time a Democrat is in the Oval Office,” she said. Here’s the full story…
Before ringing the opening bell at the NYSE this morning, Skydance CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz appeared on CNBC for a joint interview about the newly combined company.
David Faber asked the two men about a potential merger of CNN and CBS News, adding, “There’s got to be some cost savings there, right?”
“Well, this isn’t about cost savings in this case,” Kreiz said. He described the news operations running in “parallel” as “two separate businesses.”
“We’re so fortunate to have such successful, well-established, highly recognized brands in news,” Kreiz added.
Speaking broadly, not about the news operations, Ellison said there will be “operational efficiencies” across the company: “We are 100% confident in the $6 billion synergy number that we’ve outlined.”
Faber turned to CNN and asked about Ellison’s decision to retain CNN chair Mark Thompson. The move quieted months of speculation that Bari Weiss would be given a role at CNN as soon as Ellison took control of WBD.
Ellison said of Thompson, “He’s done a phenomenal job. And we also, given everything everyone’s been through, we want stability. We believe in editorial independence across the news organizations. We think CNN is a remarkable brand. We think CBS News is a remarkable brand.”
Faber interjected: “CBS News under Bari Weiss has changed its approach to a certain extent. Do you expect similar moves from CNN?”
“Right now, I’d say you have to talk to Mark,” Ellison responded. “Corporate stays out of editorial. So again, I would say that’s a conversation for Mark, it’s a conversation for Bari. But we’re going to support them.”
CBS News will host a town hall in battleground Michigan with VP JD Vance on Saturday, October 17. It’s the latest edition of the “Things That Matter” series that started last year. Tony Dokoupil will moderate the town hall before “an audience of Michigan voters from across the political spectrum…”
Deadline’s Jake Kanter reports: In his “most significant remarks yet about his vision for the corporation’s culture,” BBC director-general Matt Brittin “told employees that he wants the broadcaster to ‘be more Elvis,’ by which he meant: “A little less conversation, a little more action.’”
“Brittin spoke about the BBC radically rethinking how it meets audience needs online by decentralizing decision-making power, embracing a sense that digital — not traditional broadcast — ‘can be flagship,’ building and testing new online products quickly, and recognizing that it’s ok to ‘experiment and fail.’ In other words, Brittin outlined a Silicon Valley-ization of the BBC.”
Spotify “has re-upped with star podcaster Joe Rogan, securing licensing rights and ad sales for his show in a multiyear deal,” the WSJ’s Anne Steele scooped this morning. The deal, she writes, “is for similar terms to Rogan’s previous deal with the streaming service, which allowed ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ to be distributed broadly and for an estimated earnout of $250 million.”
>> Skydance synergy: Newly minted “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat will also serve as columnist for The Free Press. (TheFP)
>> The BBC and Channel 4 “have held preliminary talks with the government about a broader tie-up of some operations.” (Reuters)
>> Semafor has named Reed Albergotti its first San Francisco bureau chief. (TheWrap)
>> Xbox “is launching a new division that will house its film and television, consumer products, strategic partnerships and live experiences businesses,” led by ‘Minecraft’ studio chief Kayleen Walters. (Variety)
>> Meta “is rolling out new AI tools to find ads and accounts that may be used to secretly direct people to illegal child abuse material.” (TechCrunch)
>> X is “expanding its ‘Gametime’ feature” beyond the NFL via a partnership with the MLB. (TechCrunch)
With an eye toward the Oscars race, “Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ is returning to Imax theaters and 70mm screens this month,” starting in select theaters tomorrow, Umberto Gonzalez reports over at TheWrap.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger” is “poised to lose a stunning $250 million by the end of its run… even when factoring in post-theatrical revenue,” Sharon Waxman and Adam Chitwood report.
“Previous reports put the projected loss at approximately $125 million, but it is expected to be more extensive after earning just $8 million domestically and $21 million globally at the box office in its opening weekend,” the pair writes.
“It is by far the biggest loss” of Tom Cruise’s career, “and one of the largest losses in recent years of movie releases…”
This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.