NBC News’ Dylan Byers covered Murdoch’s remarks at an investor conference on Thursday.
"The main beneficiary of the Trump administration from a ratings point of view was MSNBC... and that’s because they were the loyal opposition," Murdoch said of the rival cable network. "That’s what our job is now with the Biden administration, and you’ll see our ratings really improve from here."
That’s a load of hogwash. In February – you know, while Biden was president – MSNBC won the total day ratings. And while Fox had the most prime time viewers, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show beat both Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity.
Also, while we all know that Fox is a propaganda machine, Fox still calls itself a “news network.”
Other than its true purpose, Murdoch seems shockingly ignorant of what Fox airs or maybe even the news, itself. More from Byers:
"75 million people voted for a Republican president, sometimes in spite of his personality at times," he said. "That's what we represent. We're going to stick to the center-right. That's where our audience is."
Center right? Really? When Fox hosts routinely engage in white nationalist rhetoric? When their so-called news shows normalize or even gush over extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene?
More importantly, there’s nothing center right about trying to subvert democracy and the presidential election, as Fox did. Its hosts told so many lies about the “stolen” election, Murdoch’s company is now being sued for $2.7 billion. You’d think that might have gotten Murdoch’s attention about what his network airs.
Last year, The New York Times’ Ben Smith called it a “dangerous mistake” for Rupert Murdoch to have put son Lachlan in charge of Fox - and then it was “only” because of Fox’s dangerous disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. “People close to Lachlan Murdoch describe him as a laid-back executive who doesn’t spend his days watching Fox and is sometimes surprised to learn of a controversy it has generated,” Smith wrote in March, 2020.
Murdoch doesn’t seem to have changed a bit.
One other thing: Byers points out that Trump received received 74.2 million votes, not 75 million.
