As the dust settles from Donald Trump’s presidency, which culminated in a failed insurrection that violently breached the U.S. Capitol building, audiences’ interest in political news has been plummeting. In an effort to keep eyeballs, Fox News is turning to the one area that’s continue to grow while politics is fading: the weather.
Citing reports that The Weather Channel has seen a 7 percent boost as audiences at MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News have dropped almost 38 percent, Fox News is making an aggressive move into meteorology, according to The New York Times:
“All the networks are ramping up for this,” said Jay Sures, a co-president of United Talent Agency who oversees its TV division. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that climate change and the environment will be the story of the next decade.” One of his firm’s clients, Ginger Zee, the chief meteorologist at ABC News, now has 2.2 million Twitter followers — more than any ABC News personality besides George Stephanopoulos.
According to the Times, Fox is already poaching top talent from The Weather Channel, whose parent company welcomes the “competition.” But as the two monoliths prepare to go head-to-head over who tells America when it’s going to rain, people on social media are obviously concerned about how a right-wing, climate-change-denying network like Fox will cover the weather. The consensus? Probably not well.
Fox Weather has its first confirmed meteorologist. pic.twitter.com/xb28ObFN3f
— JRock (@zeroslack1) July 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/PeterGleick/status/1412495265848647680
Can't wait for Fox Weather:
"We know it's -29 degrees out, but you don't need to wear a jacket. God will protect you!"
— Brian O'Sullivan (@osullivanauthor) July 6, 2021
Looking forward to Fox Weather spreading conspiracy theories about the government controlling storms. https://t.co/I2HhcUc5dS
— Scott Faldon (@ScottFaldon) July 6, 2021
Fox News is launching a weather channel.
Lightning will now be called Jesus Jolts and 30% of the country will be out in the rain wearing colanders on their heads.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) July 6, 2021
WEATHER CHANNEL: it’s cloudy
FOX WEATHER: why is AOC hiding the sun from white people? https://t.co/u2GDv8I7M5
— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) July 6, 2021