A Conservative's Viewpoint
When I was in marketing I was often sought out for guidance by retailer's seeking to expand their business into another location. Selecting the right area to grow their business was one of the most important decisions they would make. Getting it wrong could lead to financial catastrophe.
I'd always ask my expansion minded clients the following: If faced with a choice between locating your new store on a side of town where most of your competition would be, or on the opposite side of town with little or no competetion, which site would you choose? Invariably the answer was this: "Why, the side of town where I'd have the least competition, of course." This seemingly logical answer is a primary reason why many retail ventures fail.
Ideally a retail business needs to be located in an area where most folks are shopping for the products you sell. There you will find more potential customers than you ever would, had you chosen to avoid the competition by locating elsewhere. It's always about the numbers
It appears White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has chosen a different tactic. Instead of utilizing the most watched network in cable news, the Fox News Network, as an additional news outlet for her party's message, she and President Barack Obama have decided instead to avoid and excoriate them.
Dunn told CNN's "Reliable Sources" that Fox News operates "... almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party." She added, "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent."
Obama is no fan of Fox. Commentators like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have been tough critics of his. Bill O'Reilly has also often been critical of this administration. While most viewers have little trouble discerning between the aforementioned opinion shows and the networks news programming with the likes of Brett Baier and Shepherd Smith, the same cannot be said if the White House. They view them as one in the same.
No such distinctions are drawn by Obama with other cable news outlets. Keith Olbermann, Chris Mathews and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC also have opinion shows. They regularly trash conservatives or anyone else daring to oppose this president and/or his agenda. Instead they present almost any initiative undertaken by Obama and the Democrats with little objectivity or criticism.
Is criticism of the conventional media valid? A new Pew Research Poll found the public is losing faith in the mainstream media. It revealed most folks no longer trust these news organizations to cover stories objectively or responsibly.
Two huge recent stories escaped the supposed microscopic lens of investigative journalism by mainstream media outlets. They were all scooped by Fox. One story involved the outing of Obama's former Green Jobs Czar Van Jones, an avowed Communist who abruptly resigned amid a firestorm of controversy. By the time the mainstream media picked up this story, Jones was already on his way out the door.
Then there was the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal. Two young independent film makers presented themselves to various ACORN offices around the country as a pimp and his prostitute. They were seeking help from ACORN on how best to set up their bordello. They even feigned expanding this illegitimate enterprise by saying they intended to bring underage girls into the country as prostitutes. ACORN officials, without the blink of an eye, told them exactly how to get around any civil, criminal and tax laws that could lead to their detection and arrest. Because of this Fox News exposé, government funding for ACORN was cut off, even in spite of a few members of Congress like Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N. C., incredulously voting to continue its funding.
Fox News, which has dominated cable news for the last few years, is only growing stronger. The numbers from Mediaite.com, a company that monitors viewership, suggests that White House attacks on Fox are helping it attract new viewers. Fox trounces the competition in prime time in the all important 25-54 age demographic. Fox has three times more viewers than MSNBC and almost five times the viewers of CNN during prime time. O'Reilly, Beck and Hannity's numbers are even more impressive.
Last month Obama appeared on the entire major network Sunday talk show circuit except for Fox New Sunday. Host Chris Wallace called this administration "the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington." Wallace is certainly someone who should know. Son of legendary broadcast journalist Mike Wallace, 62 year old Chris has worked for NBC and ABC News. He also was a former Moderator of Meet the Press.
Like the retailers that should locate new stores where the customers are, so too should Obama seek to sell his message where the majority of viewers are.
Fox has already wooed former ABC News co-host of 20/20 John Stossel to their network and are reportedly in discussions with CNN's Lou Dobbs. Fox is not going away in the near future. The sooner Obama acknowledges that and begins to include Fox into his news mix, the better chance he has of reaching a large segment of America he's currently not connecting with. To continue avoiding the Fox News Network, would be foolish.
