Former Breitbart chairman Stephen K. Bannon, who also served as senior counselor and chief strategist to President Donald Trump, went scorched earth on Fox News at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference. The network’s softer stance on issues and the controversial Arizona returns during the 2020 election have drawn the ire of the Trump base, which was evidently on full display. Bannon virtually declared all-out war against Murdoch and vowed that he and the rest of the Trump camp would fight him every step of the way, with the ultimate goal of erasing any traces of the billionaire executive from his network (via Mediaite):
As the speech continued the crowd got even more into it, especially when he attacked Fox News Channel specifically — first over the network’s infamous on the right decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden, and then for more recent transgressions such as cutting away from a Trump speech.
“Look at Fox News,” he said. “The president announces his – this is historic. A guy gave you four years of peace and prosperity, announces he’s going to run again after having it stolen in broad daylight of which they participate in — They don’t even, they cover it live for 20 minutes and then they say if there’s anything newsworthy, we’ll cut back, and they go to some panel and some discussion.”
“Note to Fox Senior management: When Donald J. Trump talks, it’s newsworthy,” shouted Bannon.
[…]
He closed out with a threat to Murdoch.
“Murdoch, you’ve deemed Trump’s not going to be president. Well, we’ve deemed that you’re not going to have a network,” he yelled as the audience stood again, waving, cheering, and applauding. “Because we’re going to fight you every step of the way!”
There are legitimate trip-ups in Fox News coverage, but they’re more on-target than other networks, like CNN and MSNBC. No one bats .1000, and what if Fox News goes away? I can tell you that conservatives would be at a significant disadvantage. It’s shocking because many folks in the Trump base know what life was like for right-leaning media before Fox News; it was miserable. The Right had two methods to counter liberal narratives: talk radio and letters to the editor. You can be frustrated and angry at some of Fox’s coverage as of late—it’s warranted, but burning it all down isn’t the way.