Fascinating look at the relationship between Trump, Hannity, and Fox News, excerpted from @brianstelter's new book. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/08/sean-hannity-fox-news-staffers-feel-trapped-in-trump-cult

This, from a veteran staffer, is particularly interesting: “I feel like Fox is being held hostage by its audience." It's common for people to believe Fox manipulates its audience, but the power balance between the network and the audience doesn't quite work that way.

The audience, and the Republican base more broadly, shapes what Fox News covers and how they cover it. The network is sensitive to unhappiness among its viewers.

That's clearer in the Trump era, but it was also true in the Before Times. The network pushed immigration reform in early 2013, until viewer backlash caused them to back down.

Which shouldn't be surprising! Of course networks are sensitive to their audience's desires! It's just that this network also happens to be the communications arm of a major political party, which confuses things.