In retrospect, it seems that Peak Fox was achieved this time last year. In the ensuing 12 months, the House That Roger Built has shown its cracks. The vaunted stability of its primetime lineup has evaporated. Its much-hyped prowess in ratings is tarnished (it fell to third place in the 25-to-54 demo for the week of May 15, its first weekly loss in 17 years). Its political steamroller, which culminated in the surprising election of Donald Trump, has encountered roadblocks.
Fox News under the leadership of Roger Ailes defied the normal rules of television, which dictate that a lineup must constantly renew itself to remain stable. With the exception of the introduction of Megyn Kelly, his hosts in the spring of 2016 were the same as in the previous decade. Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly had been at FNC since its foundation, Greta Van Susteren since 2002. Yet in less than a year since Ailes’ ouster amid sexual harassment lawsuits, his network’s primetime lineup has been dismantled and, with it, the ratings crown. If Roger Ailes had not died from a fall, he might have died from a broken heart.
To be sure, Fox News would not have been immune from decline even without the exposure of allegedly predatory and sexist working conditions. The onset of cord-cutting means that the cable TV industry as a whole enjoys diminishing returns. And under Ailes, who cut his teeth in daytime syndication with Mike Douglas, FNC was never forward-looking technologically: Neither its producers nor its elderly audience (median age: late 60s) have demonstrated the same verve for digital video as they have for old-fashioned television.
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