Hope Hicks joining New Fox as EVP and Chief Communications Officer is yet another illustration that Fox News is not a news network, but rather a partisan propaganda operation aimed at serving Trump's interests. Also underscores that Fox News is already gearing up for 2020.
A few additional thoughts:
1) Unlike James Murdoch, who was feckless and either unable or unwilling to align the company around his vision, Lachlan is capable and shrewd. He's made some decisions about the future of New Fox and is implementing accordingly.
1) Unlike James Murdoch, who was feckless and either unable or unwilling to align the company around his vision, Lachlan is capable and shrewd. He's made some decisions about the future of New Fox and is implementing accordingly.
2) Lachlan is fleshing out C suite. One thing is very clear: He is aligning New Fox around the Fox News apparatus and accordingly has been moving key Fox News people to bigger jobs. Last week, he put the Fox News ad chief in charge of all ad sales for New Fox; now Hicks.
3) In the short term, he thinks he can go all in on Fox News. That means even more extreme and more aligned with Trump. Or, put another way, things are about to get way way worse at Fox News. But....
4) He knows he's stuck. Trump controls Fox News' audience as well as the company's fate (e.g. acquisitions in local market), so Lachlan thinks he can play both sides. Exploit short term gain, but slowly build a digital structure to eventually quarantine the Fox News extremists.
5) Bottom line is this: Hope Hicks' presence will further align Trump comms apparatus with the Fox News propaganda machine. Lachlan has decided not just to tolerate, but facilitate this. It'll get worse, unless we start organizing to make this trajectory a business problem.
