The Fall of Fox

by Thomas Reiner, Quartz Mountain Commentary, ©2025

(Apr. 15, 2025) — Empires rise and fall one brick and one day at a time. The decay of greatness is virtually unnoticeable until “suddenly” one day, it can no longer be ignored. The Roman Empire is one example and Fox News is unfortunately falling to a similar fate. At the trajectory it is on, Fox News will become the new MSNBC in a decade, or sooner, if corrective action is not taken. By the time GenZ becomes the new fuddy-duddy, they will be the only group who remembers Fox News for what it once was.

Art resembles life for anyone who has seen the HBO series “Succession.” It is about the Roy family, headed by a patriarch who built and controlled a global media and entertainment conglomerate until his death. The series then revolves around his children who fight for control of the empire which shifts from conservative news to sensationalism. “Succession” is loosely based on Rupert Murdoch, his children, and Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch stepped down as chairman of News Corp in September 2023 and his relatively conservative son, Lachlan, was named to take control of Fox News to maintain a conservative viewpoint. An attempt to change an irrevocable trust to consolidate Lachlan’s control as the sole head of Fox failed in December 2024 and control was spread to his six children, three of whom are left-leaning. Lachlan’s younger brother James is liberal but not as liberal as his Manhattan party-circuit wife Kathryn. The AWFL (Affluent White Female Liberal) cabal consists of Kathryn, sister Elisabeth and sister Prudence who are obsessed with climate change and hating Trump.

The change in Fox News is becoming more noticeable every passing week since the December trust decision. The editorial shows hosted by Sean Hannity, Greg Gutfeld, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters are safe (for now) due to their high ratings. Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson have already been dropped which suggests that a purge has been brewing for a long time.

The News department has developed an infection of giving more and more air time to Leftist politicians and commentators. Leftists such as Richard Fowler, Leslie Marshall, Jessica Tarlov and Juan Williams are regularly and increasingly given the microphone to espouse liberal and progressive ideals. There is no similar “balance” to be found on MSNBC or CNN which are devoid of conservative commentary. Again, these changes are subtle but are probably caused by infighting between Lachlan and James Murdoch for editorial control.

There is an antidote. Conservative Newsmax has just gone public and its viewership is growing. In the first quarter of 2025, Nielsen reported that there are 33.6 million viewers which is a 50% increase from the same period in 2024. This strength will likely survive any attempt to censor Newsmax as One America News (OAN) was thrown off DirecTV in 2022 and was later removed from all cable and satellite providers. OAN was “guilty” of supporting Trump and exposing the fraud of Covid-19 government suppression.

Newsmax is Conservative while having only relatively few Liberal counterpoint guests. Again, Fox is going in the opposite direction. The only hope is that Fox suffers falling ratings and becomes determined to regain its conservative base.