Politico: Fox News Website Beefs Up and ‘Goes a Little Breitbart’

Andy Kropa/Getty Images
Andy Kropa/Getty Images

Jason Schwartz writes at Politico that Fox News is ramping-up its website to try to better compete in the arena of online news:

A website that had been more closely identified with Shepard Smith’s brand of reporting has now moved closer to the mold of Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, according to former staff members. “The approach has gone much more the way the prime-time programming works,” said one, “where it feels more agenda or opinion driven, or combative.”

According to Noah Kotch, who took over six months ago as Fox News digital editor in chief and vice president, his staff has grown to more than 100 full-time staffers, an increase of about 45 percent in the past year. The ramp-up signals that digital is now a major priority for Rupert Murdoch’s news outlet, Kotch said, adding that there is an increased focus on collaboration with TV.

 

During the primary, when Fox News was more critical of Trump — and Breitbart turned against Fox, attacking it in several headlines — Benkler said the site’s influence decreased. “Fox News became less prominent, fewer Twitter shares, fewer Facebook shares,” he said. But that changed during the general election. “It’s only when they line up, after Trump essentially wins out, that they return to their position of prominence,” he said. “In many senses, it was a capitulation of Fox News to the Breitbart line.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico.

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