We don’t actually know that Megyn Kelly is replacing Sean Hannity, even if the Drudge scoop is true that Kelly is taking the 9 p.m. slot at Fox News. Hannity may be moving to another prime time slot, or there may be some out-of-the-box schedule other than 1 hour slots per person.
But Media Matters is not waiting to find out, it’s sounding the alarm about how devious Roger Ailes is in promoting Kelly, Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, And What Fox News’ “Course Correction” Really Means [update – original link dead, internet archive link here](h/t Eric Boehlert) (emphasis added, embedded links removed):
Recent rumors indicate that Megyn Kelly may take over Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. time slot on Fox News. But the factors in play are much bigger than one hour a night. The imminent Fox News primetime shakeup is more about Fox News’ own brand of misinformation being set to surpass the blunter approach of Rush Limbaugh and right-wing radio hosts….But the new face of Fox News primetime, Megyn Kelly, is a much more pernicious purveyor of political propaganda. Kelly has the unique ability to pluck misinformation and imbue it with a veneer of legitimacy that Sean Hannity has long since lost, if he ever had it at all. She can have a great moment chiding Fox colleagues Erick Erickson and Lou Dobbs for sexism, only to turn around and push the New Black Panthers scandal as something serious. Megyn Kelly can cover gay rights in a way that is occasionally not abominable, and then push Benghazi falsehoods that have long been debunked. Megyn Kelly will rebuke Dick Morris and Karl Rove, but then hosts a climate change denier during the president’s climate address. Kelly smacked down Mike Gallagher on family leave, but she also defended Newt Gingrich’s bizarre suggestion that schools should use children as janitors. The examples go on and on — but the key for Fox is that her positive moments always get more press than her more dishonest moments. It’s no surprise that Howard Kurtz declared her future bright.
Hey, why hate on Howie Kurtz? Leave him out of this.
Back to the threat Kelly poses to whatever:
This veneer of credibility that Kelly has acquired is what makes her more dangerous: in an age where the false balance of he said-she said reporting too often has replaced fact-checking, media will be more likely to take Kelly’s scandal-mongering seriously. But Kelly’s strength in achieving relevancy also speaks to Roger Ailes’ motive: elevating Megyn Kelly is more about a political strategy than about a business strategy……. Kelly is uniquely positioned to be the Fox News arbiter of right-wing chicanery. It’ll be good television, and she’ll probably call out enough people like Erick Erickson to get attention in the zeitgeist. But while she’s doing that, she’ll also probably be pushing more subtle misinformation that will inevitably find its way into other media outlets. That’s her track record, and after all, she still works for Roger Ailes. It’s a “course correction,” but the destination remains the same.
Step away from the ledge, step away from the ledge.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
