As a life-long Liberal, I commiserate with the plight of the network news stations. I long for the good old days when their voice was unchallenged. Unfortunately, now we have "maverick" cable news that forces me and others to reconsider long-held beliefs that the networks instilled in me over the decades.
I object to this. Watching the news shouldn't be so cerebral. I just want to hear the networks' interpretation of the news so I can feel informed. Now these Conservatives have totally upset my world by challenging my cherished beliefs.
You may say, "Well, no one is Forcing you to watch FOX News". That may be true in the strict sense of the word, but guys like Bill O'Reilly are just very entertaining and lively. It's hard not to watch. Why should I be penalized by having to watch a guy whose news analysis forces me to re-evaluate everything? Why can't the Liberal news outlets have someone who is so interesting we want to watch him? This is obviously another example of the great right-wing conspiracy.
Actually, the Liberal news outlets have gotten better. They used to be all boring and stodgy, but ever since their ownership changed, they offer more high quality entertainment. It used to be they were all deadly serious, and fed me information I didn't even care about. Now that networks are owned by, let's say a huge manufacturer of soap and cleaning products, they finally got smart and made the "news" more about quirky, fun things. They want good ratings, and it shows. All the announcers are cheerful and they say wacky things. I like that.
Bill O'Reilly is not cheerful, but still he's got this exasperating allure. What he says is undeniably interesting; I just wish he wasn't so good at changing my mind. It's unsettling. I want to watch a news program with a perky blonde woman telling me about international events, and that nice black guy to tell me the weather. It's like "happy news", even when they talk about something dire, like global warming.
So, to answer your question, FOX News is surging because they have an unfair advantage. Conservative announcers and news analysts just seem to be born with a silver tongue. They're just more compelling as purveyors and analysts of the news. That is blatently unfair. It's not the fault of us Liberals that our guys like Al Franken can't measure up.
So don't get too full of yourself, Mr. Big Shot Conservative. Part of the poor network ratings can be attributed to the networks appealing to a more selective, ecclectic audience. They'd rather have quality than quantity. You should be impressed by the selflessness of the networks. They aren't pandering to the lowest common denominator, and I applaud their advertisers for accepting these low ratings.
As a consequence, we should all buy their products to reward their loyalty. It's like resisting the vain temptation to drive a new Cadillac when your old Chevy just won't start in winter anymore.