Publisher Henry Holt announced last week the imminent release of their new book by Michael Wolff, “The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty.” Wolff famously authored what Publishers Weekly calls “one of the Trump Era’s bestselling political books, Fire and Fury.”
Readers would be excused for taking all this as straightforward news. A new book coming out, a timely topic, a bestselling author. But when you do a little digging (you know, the kind of research journalists used to do), you find a different story entirely.
First, let’s look at the supposed “fall” of FoxNews. That might have made a good headline – for a week – but unfortunately for Rachel Madow et al, the fall was more like a stumble before standing right back up. To quote Mark Twain, news of their death was greatly exaggerated.
According to the most recent Nielsen Ratings (through the end of July 2023), FoxNews’ lead over MSNBC narrowed immediately after Tucker Carlson’s departure, and then widened again once the primetime line-up shuffle was done. (Note – Fox never even lost the lead, it just narrowed. Temporarily.) Specifically, FoxNews is still #1 among all basic cable (not just cable news, all cable) for primetime viewers; and still #1 among all basic cable for total daily viewers. As TVNewser (a division of AdWeek) reported: “Fox News can claim 29 consecutive months as the top-rated cable news network in total viewers and among Adults 25-54.”
Meanwhile, after firing their CEO just one year after hiring him, CNN is faring even worse than MSNBC. CNN averaged about one-third of the primetime viewers of FoxNews in July, placing them at #12 among basic cable.
Hardly “the end” of FoxNews.
As the former head of a book publishing company, I’m all for titles that sell books. So, perhaps we can chalk up Michael Wolff’s book title to wishful thinking and serious pandering. But what about the coverage of his book?
You see, when I read the Publishers Weekly article, I couldn’t help wondering where were all the stories about the downfall of CNN? Or the failure of MSNBC to beat FoxNews, their chief rival, over 29 straight months? (Actually, the string is much longer than that — it extends, well, infinitely. MSNBC has never beaten FoxNews in monthly primetime viewers. So there’s that.)
But where are those books? Where is the coverage? So, I did a bit more digging (again, journalists, take note.) I was able to find one book on CNN’s plight, published by Bombadier Press, called “This Was CNN: How Sex, Lies and Spies Undid the World’s Worst News Network.” I also found an article in The Hill, with the headline “CNN’s Collapse is Now Complete.”
A few really interesting details to share… the Bombadier Press book was released in February of this year. How did the publishing industry cover it? Radio silence. The proverbial tree falling in the forest. Of course, it was not written by a bestselling author, it was not published by a “Big 5” publishing house. Because, after all, that is not the narrative they want to promote. No coverage + no books = no news to report. It’s almost like it didn’t even happen!
What about the article in The Hill? Well, it was written back in 2022, so perhaps the corpse is already cold. Also, it was an opinion piece, not a news story. Frankly, I’m surprised it was published at all. Still, it was not presented to readers as news – and so … it wasn’t.
Michael Wolff sold nearly a million copies of Fire and Fury (which, to be clear, was not his recipe for how to respond to a Trump presidential run in 2024, though again, you’d be forgiven for thinking so.) I would not be at all surprised to see his readers gobble up his new “reporting” on the demise of FoxNews. It’s a powerful elixir to sell people something they desperately want to be true.
It’s not surprising to me, either, to learn that “This Was CNN” sold very few copies. Conservative readers already know that CNN is bankrupt of ideas and journalistic integrity – they don’t need to buy a book to tell them so. And, of course, no one from the Left wants to believe this, so they’re not going to buy that book on a bet.
It seems to me The Hill got it right. They followed one of my favorite principles in book publishing, taught to me by Al Regnery himself: “Most books should have been a magazine article, and most magazine articles shouldn’t have been published in the first place.”
Meanwhile, the Left has built a firewall of propaganda: refuse to publish books that challenge the progressive narrative, refuse to cover books by independent publishers who do challenge the narrative, refuse to report on the news within the books that challenge the narrative… pretty soon, there is no news except the news they create.