What's the secret of Fox's success? Is it ideology? Graphics? Appealing anchors with good chemistry? Or is it, more than anything else, attitude? One good answer comes from Bryan C. Anderson, who coined the phrase "South Park Republicans" a few years ago, to describe the in-your-face style that was emerging on the right--to match the left's in-your-face style, which dates back to the 60s.
Here's Anderson, in his own insightful words:
"Fox's real ethos is not Republican but anti-elitist — a major reason it connects with so many Americans and annoys so many coastal elites. 'There's a whole country that elitists will never acknowledge,' Ailes once observed. 'What people resent deeply out there are those in the "blue states" thinking they're smarter.' This anti-elitism shows itself in Fox's pro-U.S. stance in covering the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and its broadcasters' use of terms such as 'terrorist' instead of 'militant' to refer to ... well, terrorists. Since the Vietnam War era, mainstream journalists have tended to see such blunt language and side-taking as unsophisticated, a betrayal of journalistic objectivity.
"Another aspect of Fox's anti-elitism: Christians, far from being seen as lunatics or curiosities — as too often is the case in the mainstream media — actually get some respect.
"'Most Americans believe in God and have that as their foundation in life. So why shouldn't we have as guests people that they like, respect and want to hear from?' Hannity told me a while back.
"What really frustrates liberals about Fox, though, is simply that, along with talk radio and the conservative blogosphere, it has helped shatter the left's near-monopoly on news and information. Fox's opinion-driven programming gives conservatives and liberals a chance to get a hearing for their ideas. But Democratic politicians and activists who go on Fox also must defend their views, often against tough questioning, something that happens less often on the networks, where most journalists are left-of-center, survey after survey has shown."
Anderson is on to something. Folks at CNN, MSNBC, the broadcast nets, etc. would do well to study this article and to look at his book, too, called, simply enough, South Park Conservatives.
But those potential readers should be forewarned: When Anderson writes, as a subtitle, The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias, he is talking about just those folks in the MSM, and the MSM-wannabes at CNN and MSNBC. All those liberal folks don't seem to understand that at the rate they are going, they media institutions that they work for are not likely to exist in 10 years. All the more reason for them to buy Anderson's book--and all the more reason, of course, that they won't.
