Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Fox News no longer fair and balanced

You can’t call Fox News “fair and balanced” anymore… because they’re not calling themselves that anymore.

The cable news network is dropping its famous “Fair & Balanced” marketing slogan, according to New York Magazine — a slogan that’s been an integral part of Fox News since the channel debuted in 1996. The motto was an invention of late founder/chairman Roger Ailes, who resigned last year after a series of sexual-harassment allegations. Fox will reportedly rely on its other tagline going forward: “Most Watched. Most Trusted.”

The “Fair & Balanced” moniker was a controversial one, viewed by some as a way for the conservative-leaning news channel to feign editorial objectivity. (NY Mag‘s Gabriel Sherman calls it an example of “Ailes’ cynical genius at its most successful.”) But Ailes insisted it was a necessary guideline to fight the tide of a largely liberal media. “He would say, ‘The news is like a ship. If you take hands off the wheel, it pulls hard to the left,'” a Fox News senior producer remembers.

The move is the latest sign that Fox News is busy rebuilding its identity in the wake of Ailes’ departure, along with the high-profile exits of anchors Megyn Kelly (who left to join NBC News) and Bill O’Reilly (who was fired following his own sexual-harassment scandal).