Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum were upset that Fox News might lose some viewers when execs called Arizona earlier than any other network in the 2020 election, especially when dealing in a Trump environment.
The NY Times obtained video of a Zoom meeting with Fox executives and hosts who were feverishly working on one goal. How to keep from angering the network’s conservative audience again by calling an election for a Democrat before the competition.
Chief executive Suzanne Scott opined that Fox News viewership would have been massive if they let the mystery of Arizona's election results twist in the wind.
“Listen, it’s one of the sad realities: If we hadn’t called Arizona those three or four days following Election Day, our ratings would have been bigger,” Ms. Scott said. “The mystery would have been still hanging out there.”
Fox News has spent a lot of blood and treasure trying to promote the idea that Special Report host Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum are straight-shooting journalists since they helm all of Fox News' election coverage.
That bubble has burst.
Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the two main anchors, suggested it was not enough to call a state based on numerical calculations, the standard by which networks have made such determinations for generations, but that viewer reaction should be considered. “In a Trump environment,” Ms. MacCallum said, “the game is just very, very different.”
Chris Stirewalt and others lost their jobs because the Decision Desk made the right call on Arizona.
Network president Jay Wallace was so afraid of the Trump backlash that he delayed Fox calling Nevada for Biden.
But on Friday night, Nov. 6, when Mr. Sammon’s team was ready to call Nevada for Mr. Biden, sealing his victory, Mr. Wallace refused to air it. “I’m not there yet since it’s for all the marbles — just a heavier burden than an individual state call,” Mr. Wallace wrote in a text message obtained by The Times.
Little doubt remains about Fox News's credibility as an actual news network.
When will the rest of the beltway media get on board?
