Big birthday this week: Fox News Channel is 13 years old. I was
there on Oct. 7, 1996, when the channel was launched with about 15 million
subscribers. Now we have about 90 million. Back then, if "The Factor"
received 50 e-mails a day we were happy. Now, we average about 2,000
electronic letters daily.
FNC is perhaps the biggest media success since the networks were
formed in the 1940s. Fox News is a billion-dollar enterprise that dominates
cable news ratings and is consistently in the top five of all cable
programs. Simply put, FNC is on fire even after all these years.
There are two compelling questions on our birthday. First, why
the big success? Second, why do many media people despise us?
The success part is two-fold. There is no question that FNC
leans to the right, because it gives conservative voices a prominent place
on the air. No other TV news operation does this. So, logically,
conservative Americans tune in for long periods of time.
Also, Fox News is not boring! This, I believe, is the biggest
reason for our success. Like us or not, we move things along. We have lively
people on the air. We take chances and do things differently. In primetime
especially, Americans do not want dull programming. Many news programs
simply recite the day's events. That will not cut it anymore. You have to
give viewers something unique and entertaining. FNC does.
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