Jan 6 Committee Member Zoe Lofgren Tells Jim Acosta That Fox Not Carrying Hearing Live Was ‘Cancel Culture on Steroids’
California Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who serves on the January 6 committee, told CNN’s Jim Acosta that Fox News not carrying the hearing live on Thursday was “cancel culture on steroids.”
Rep. Lofgren joined Acosta Saturday to discuss the hearing, and during the interview the CNN anchor asked the congresswoman about the ratings from the hearing.
“I know that you weren’t going for the ratings on Thursday night, but the Nielsen numbers have come in, and it’s been estimated that some 20 million Americans were watching the hearing, the very first hearing unfold on Thursday night,” said Acosta. “Of course that does not include Fox because Fox was not showing the hearing.”
Whether the committee was going for the ratings per se or not, it’s certainly not the case that the number of viewers was an inconsequential consideration. The committee put the first hearing on live during prime time. It aired on multiple cable and broadcast networks simultaneously as well as on various streaming platforms, and was of course live on YouTube and being carried on social media. The committee brought in former ABC News president James Goldston to produce. The purpose of all that was to attract a lot of viewers, and therefore expose a larger number of people to the findings and testimony.
After Acosta suggested that this wasn’t about the ratings, he continued, asking if the ratings met Lofgren’s “satisfaction.”
“Is that what you were hoping to see, that many millions of Americans tuning in? Do you consider that a success?” he asked.
“Well, I had no idea or really any expectation of how many people would tune in. It seems to me that’s an awful lot of Americans who watched,” said Lofgren before also commenting about Fox News Channel.
“And isn’t it ironic that the Fox News commentators, they’re constantly talking about so-called cancel culture, and what they’re trying to do is make sure that the American people don’t actually see the committee’s work. Cancel culture on steroids,” she said.
“They tried to cancel you,” said the CNN anchor.
“That’s right. But we broke through, I think, to multiple millions of Americans and, you know, the ratings will go up and down, I’m sure. The meeting on Monday is at 10:00 A.M., most people are at work at that time, but it’s carried online,” said Lofgren, “And we’ll have an opportunity for people to see it in the evening or later at their leisure if they wish.”
It is ironic, too, that Lofgren mentioned the availability of seeing the hearing through other methods including on demand. Fox News Channel didn’t carry the hearing live in prime time on the main channel, but did carry it on Fox Business Network and Fox Nation. The network also ran a recap after their opinion shows, which was anchored by Shannon Bream. And Fox will be carrying the Monday hearing — which is not in prime time, as Rep. Lofgren noted — on Fox News Channel.
So, interestingly, Fox News offered essentially the same thing that Lofgren is stating as viable options for people who have to work on Monday. Acosta, of course, had no objections to the alternatives to live in that instance. Nor any more deliberate obfuscation of the phrase “cancel culture.”
For a further programming note, please be aware that the hearing will not be carried live on CNN Plus, which doesn’t exist anymore.
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
