As Fox News moves forward into a new, Roger Ailes-less future, it’s apparently looking to rebrand as well. That rebranding includes dropping its infamous “Fair & Balanced” slogan, New York magazine reports, embracing the idea that you don’t even have to pretend to be objective in your news gathering anymore. With cognitive dissonance more acceptable than ever among Fox News’ core audience thinks to the misadventures of Donald J. Trump, one might think that the slogan would still pay dividends for the network. But apparently it had to be retired, having been mocked to death by those mean old liberals.
It was also closely associated with Ailes, who used it as a code word for “leaning slightly left” in notes to producers and in making hiring decisions. A banner that doesn’t toe the party line? Not fair and balanced. A job candidate who went to one’a those liberal arts schools? Not fair and balanced. “He would say, ‘The news is like a ship. If you take hands off the wheel, it pulls hard to the left,’” as one senior producer puts it.
The network’s new tagline, according to New York’s sources, will be “Most Watched. Most Trusted.”