(Staff articles from The VOX and The BLOOMBERG NEWS in November 2018.)
“The most effective thing Americans can do is boycott companies that advertise on Fox,” Edward Luce tweeted Saturday. “They bankroll the poison that goes from the studio into Trump’s head. The second is vote.”
The call was an unusual one for a journalist. But Luce — who had tweeted on Friday that Trump “has normalized the language of violence in US politics” — was one of a growing number of prominent voices, including former conservatives who oppose Trump, speaking out against Fox News and Fox Business.
Max Boot, a conservative columnist and former Christian Science Monitor editor, appeared on CNN this morning urging investors to “boycott Fox News until they pull back from the hate.” Earlier last week, the New York Times and NBC News reported that Cesar Sayoc — who is charged in connection to the pipe bomb packages — had a Twitter feed full of “clips from Fox News broadcasts,” while the Pittsburgh shooter was upset by a conspiracy theory, alluded to by Fox News and Fox Business hosts, that Jewish billionaire George Soros was linked to the migrant caravan traveling to the US.
Over the weekend, after the mass shooting in Pittsburgh, a guest on Lou Dobbs’s show on Fox Business, Chris Farrell, who heads the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, said the migrant caravan was directed by the “Soros-occupied State Department.” Soros was the first reported target of the attempted pipe bomb attacks, and the episode attracted widespread criticism for spreading anti-Semitic tropes.
Washington Post conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin and former senior strategist of late Sen. John McCain’s campaign Steve Schmidt both tweeted harsh criticism of the segment and of Fox News more broadly.
“This repulsive and dangerous filth is bring spewed courtesy of a publicly owned corporation,” wrote Bill Kristol, an editor at large at the Weekly Standard. “Will no one on the board, in management, or in a position of influence at Fox speak up?” The episode with Farrell was later pulled, and the vice president for programming at Fox Business Network apologized.
Meanwhile, Monday morning, Fox News was speculating about whether the migrant caravan would bring disease to America.
Fox Boycott Push Faces Reality: Ad Revenue Isn’t Essential
Activists seeking an advertising boycott at Fox News face a conundrum: The network’s main source of revenue comes from cable subscribers, making it harder to inflict damage by putting the squeeze on sponsors.
Groups such as Media Matters, the liberal-leaning media watchdog, have started circulating lists of the network’s advertisers, including big-name companies like General Motors Co. and Procter & Gamble Co. But so-called affiliate fees from pay-TV providers are far more vital to its operations.
“Fox News in its current form could survive, albeit less profitably, without advertisers,” said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group LLC. “But it couldn’t survive without affiliate fees.”
Fox News is a frequent target of activists, but the drumbeat has grown louder in recent days. Media Matters was particularly incensed by comments made by Judicial Watch’s Chris Farrell on the Fox Business Network. He said billionaire George Soros, a Democratic Party supporter, was behind a caravan of Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border. Conservative journalist Matt Drudge also criticized Fox News this week, saying it behaved insensitively in the wake of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
‘Agenda-Driven Intimidation’
Gary Schreier, senior vice president of programming for Fox Business Network, condemned Farrell’s comments and said the episode would be pulled from repeat airing. In response to Drudge, who complained about Fox News commentators smiling on the channel when appearing to talk about the shooting, an official said there was no joking about the events.
Marianne Gambelli, president of ad sales for Fox News and Fox Business, said the company won’t be swayed by advocates seeking a boycott. “We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” she said in a statement.
21st Century Fox Inc. doesn’t break down the network’s revenue sources, but S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that about 37 percent of its $2.7 billion in operating revenue came from ads in 2018. Affiliate fees, meanwhile, generated about 60 percent. That pool of money might be a more vulnerable target for activists, Wieser said.
“I’m a little surprised Media Matters might not try to encourage consumers to boycott their cable and satellite operators, rather than attempting to drive pressure on advertisers,” he said.
Even so, ad boycotts may have had some effect in the past. Bill O’Reilly, who faced allegations of sexual harassment, was ousted after activists targeted sponsors. Other hosts, such as Laura Ingraham, also have been hit by boycotts.
And Fox News could be less insulated after its parent company completes a $71 billion deal with Walt Disney Co. As part of that agreement, the news channel will be spun off into a new business focused more on news and sports. Fox News will be two-thirds of new company’s earnings, according to Wieser.
The latest controversies don’t appear to be hurting Fox News ratings. The outlet, founded by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes in 1996, continues to beat rivals CNN and MSNBC -- including among the key demographic for advertisers, adults 24-54.
The network hopes to capitalize on its fan base with a new streaming service that $5.99 a month. The offering, called Fox Nation, would further decrease the channel’s reliance on advertising.
