1. Short thread on the Fox Straddle. There's another problem. Nate's broader claim is that we'll end up in a "bad equilibrium" where "only milquetoast both-sidesism with a pro-corportate bent will be advertising-supported, if any political content is ad-supported at all"
2. That rests on an implausible understanding of the Fox News phenomenon. Here's an alternative take. As per historical research of @pastpunditry and others, the major continuing problem of radical conservative content before Fox was that there was no mass market for it.
3. Hence, a variety of business models, involving different mixes of patronage, leveraging of regulatory requirements for public content, and, as per @rickperlstein, scam peddling.
4. Fox News has solved this problem - but through a jiu-jitsu trick where it simultaneously presents itself as a mainstream news channel (and howls like crazy when it is treated differently), while serving up a hot mess of ideologically loaded crazy.
5. It hence has to straddle two markets. On the one hand, it has to present itself as mainstream to take advantage of ad revenues that help maintain its profitability together with cable fees. On the other, it has to guard its right flank against new media that can outcrazy it.
6. As per @YBenkler research, Fox was temporarily challenged during the 2016 elections by Breitbart, which was younger, hungrier and more adept with WWW (see also @gabrielsherman ). There were real fears that audience might migrate to some Bannon or Sinclair funded competitor.
7. So what this suggests is that Fox News is nearly uniquely vulnerable to advertiser attacks, because they widen the fissure in its underlying business model. Fox has to straddle the quite different markets for radical right crazy and the 'mainstream' engaging in a perpetual ...
8. and very difficult balancing act of faux-outrage and dissimulation. This is why we're not going to see a race to Nate's equilibrium - very few other websites are going to be as vulnerable as Fox, because very few have to pull off some equivalent of the Fox Straddle. Finis.
