LOS ANGELES (AP) – Television viewers will find almost full coverage in prime time at a congressional hearing on Thursday in the Capitol riot on January 6, with the exception of the Fox News Channel.
Fox News will cover the first of a series of public hearings of the House committee as “news orders”, the statement said, otherwise it will leave its regular staff intact, including Tucker Carlson Tonight. Fox Business Network, Fox News Digital and other corporate siblings will conduct the hearing, with Brett Bayer of Fox News and Martha McCallum.
On the broadcast side, Fox’s affiliated stations and those owned by Fox Corp. will have the opportunity, but not the obligation, to conduct the hearing, the company said. As Fox News is out of the planned mix – apart from the special program after the 23:00 EDT hearing – the most watched cable network will not add its weight to the coverage.
While Fox Business is among the highest rated business channels, its peak audience is during the day, where it recently averaged 227,000 viewers. By comparison, Fox News averaged 2 million viewers in prime time last week and 1.3 million for the full day.
Asked why the Fox News Channel refused to cover the hearing in full, a Fox spokesman cited a statement saying viewers could find the procedure on a number of Fox News Media’s cable and digital platforms.
The hearing will reconstruct the events that led to the 2021 uprising, including the refusal of then-President Donald Trump to recognize the 2020 election based on false allegations of voter fraud and organized efforts to undo Joe Biden’s victory.
Fox News’s approach is in stark contrast to other major television networks and cable news channels, which will fully cover the 20:00 to 22:00 EDT hearing. Fox News will broadcast a two-hour special program after the hearing, hosted by Fox News chief legal correspondent Shannon Brim, joined by Bayer and McCallum.
The CNN report will begin at 19:00 EDT, hosted by Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper, and will resume with post-hearing analysis and further reports anchored by Don Lemon, starting at 23:00 EDT.
According to MSNBC, Rachel Madow, Nicole Wallace and Joy Reed are responsible for the coverage, which begins at 19:00 EDT and will continue after the special edition of “11 o’clock” with Stephanie Roulette.
Broadcasting networks give their nightly news anchor a lead, with David Muir leading for ABC, Leicester Holt for NBC and Nora O’Donnell for CBS, each starting at or near 20:00 EDT.
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