I'm not sure it's charitable behavior given that Fox is already beating all the other networks in ratings, but man it's funny.
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If someone at Fox News Channel wishes you well, watch your back. The seemingly benign sentiment is a creative signature of Fox's public relations, usually accompanied by a kneecapping. It's something like a kiss from a Mafia don.Read the whole thing. There are some gems in there. Maybe someday I'll be qualified to work in the Fox News Salt-in-a-Wound Department. I can't wait.
MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was the latest to visit the wishing well. When The New York Times recently asked Fox its opinion of Olbermann, who has repeatedly used Bill O'Reilly as a pinata on his nightly news countdown, spokeswoman Irena Briganti replied:
"Because of his personal demons, Keith has imploded everywhere he's worked. From lashing out at co-workers to personally attacking Bill O'Reilly and all things Fox, it's obvious Keith is a train wreck waiting to happen. And like all train wrecks, people might tune in out of morbid curiosity, but they eventually tune out, as evidenced by Keith's recent ratings decline. In the meantime, we hope he enjoys his paranoid view from the bottom of the ratings ladder and wish him well on his inevitable trip to oblivion."
Have a nice day, Keith!
I would argue that little things like this are the reason for much of Fox News' success. It's not the being mean or snarky that earns them fans; it's having a personality. The average American probably more readily thinks of telling Keith Olbermann to shove it rather than wishing him well. Fox knows this about its audience, and knows it'll appreciate the tweak over a disingenuous well-wishing.
The reason I love Fox and Friends in the morning more than any other morning show I've watched is that the three hosts have personalities. They have chemistry and they get snarky and sarcastic with each other, and it doesn't look put on. It just makes news more fun.
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