Like a frustrated child who flips over a board game and screams, “I win!”, the George Soros-funded, tax exempt Media Matters for America declared victory in its years-long war against Fox News. Although Fox News regularly pulls in more viewers than both of its left-wing counterparts (CNN and MSNBC) combined, and recent polls show that Fox is trusted more than almost every other news source, Media Matters would like its donors to know it has won:
[I]n the coming years, Fox will no longer be the center of Media Matters’ universe. That’s because the group believes it has effectively discredited the network’s desire to be seen as “fair and balanced.”
“The war on Fox is over,” said Media Matters Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone. “And it’s not just that it’s over, but it was very successful. To a large extent, we won.”
As recently as last month, a poll showed that Fox News is the most trusted source of information about the most important issue in America today: ObamaCare. Fox News beat “friends and family,” NPR, President Obama, and every rival news network.
As recently as last month, Fox News absolutely crushed CNN and MSNBC in the ratings. In both total viewers and the all-important 25-54 age demo, Fox News beat both of them combined. Moreover, out of over 100 channels, Fox News is #2 in all of cable.
In February of this year, the left-wing PPP found that Fox News was the second-most trusted name in news after PBS, with 41% support. As far as mistrust, Fox is upside down by 5 points. MSNBC is upside down by 9, 35%-44%; CNN is upside down by 5, 38%-43%.
When compared directly to its broadcast competition, 34% percent chose Fox as most trustworthy. Second place wasn’t even close, with PBS at 13%. Fox was also the most mistrusted by 39% of viewers, but that just means that Media Matters wasn’t even able to convince 20% of Obama supporters to mistrust Fox.
Much was made of the fact that this poll showed erosion in trust for Fox News, but that had to be cold comfort for Media Matters and the left in general. Left-wing outlets like Politico can spin that to their hearts’ content, but it is just a fact that CNN is vanishing and MSNBC is sinking while Fox News’s dominance appears to be just getting started.
Changes made recently in the Fox News primetime line-up, including the addition of Megyn Kelly, have been a huge boon for a programming block that was already dominant. Meanwhile, CNN has announced it will move away from news during its primetime hours and MSNBC has lost half its primetime audience, compared to last year.
Fox News isn’t just dominant; it’s competition is in deep, deep water and either drowning or barely treading water.
If that’s a victory for Media Matters, I’d love to know what defeat looks like.
But don’t worry, Media Matters’s donors: that’s not a white flag you’re seeing. It’s David Brock waving goodbye to you as his luxury Victory Cruise heads out to sea.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC