The Hollywood Reporter takes a deep dive into the significant influence of Fox & Friends given who’s in the White House.
If he’s not watching it live (or, as the New York Times found out, on DVR) Pres. Trump often re-tweets F&F segments which gives it his stamp of approval.
In February, he called the hosts, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy “very honorable people.” Two weeks ago, he called the hosts of a competing show “Psycho Joe” and “Crazy Mika.” From THR:
Kilmeade is keenly aware of his role in Trump’s ongoing media narrative. But when he saw the “face-lift” comment — which led to Morning Joe’s biggest ever tune-in the next day, when Brzezinski responded to the president — he viewed it in stark competitive terms. “It was like a third-place team going on a 10-game winning streak because you went to play in the Olympics,” says the 53-year-old former sports reporter. “I’m watching this duel with these talk show hosts and the president. I’m thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, he just gave them ratings. And now everyone’s going to want to tune in, and that’s going to make my job harder.’ That’s a threat.”
Fox & Friends is by far the top cable news morning show on TV, leading Morning Joe and New Day despite ratings surges for those two programs. F&F is also up double digits from the previous year in multiple measurements, while hauling in $32 million in ad revenue since the 2016 election.
“We don’t take our audience for granted,” Kilmeade told TVNewser in June 2016. “We get the ratings every day, every 15 minutes. We feel responsible for putting together a show that people like and care about. A show that they’re loyal to. If the ratings slip, we feel responsible.”