Continuously opining, intermittently publishing.

Archive for February, 2012

13
February

It turns out that my suppositions about why Fox News canceled Freedom Watch were wrong. Judge Napolitano made this statement on Facebook today to his followers (it’s the second or third in a string of increasingly frustrated missives to his ardent viewership):

Dear Friends–

Many of you are not happy with the cancellation of FreedomWatch, and you have sent emails to my Fox colleagues expressing that unhappiness. In television, shows are cancelled all the time. Two of my former shows have been cancelled, and after each cancellation, Fox has rewarded me with more and better work. This cancellation–along with others that accompanied it–was the result of a business judgment here, and is completely unrelated to the FreedomWatch message. It would make a world of a difference for all of us, if you would KINDLY STOP SENDING EMAILS TO FOX.

I am well. Your values are strong. I will continue to articulate those values here at Fox. But the emails many of you are sending are unfairly interfering with my work and that of my colleagues here. The emails even violate our values because they interfere with the use of private property. I have accepted the cancellation decision with good cheer and a sense of gearing up for the future. You should as well.

As a favor to me, and as I have asked this past weekend, PLEASE STOP SENDING EMAILS TO MY COLLEAGUES AT FOX ABOUT THE CANCELLATION OF FreedomWatch; and please stop NOW.

All the best, apn.

Well it turns out he continues to have a platform for his work on Fox News. I do bet he wishes he could issue an injunction right about now!

Fox News just announced a new lineup that does not include the eminently popular Freedom Watch hosted by the liberty-loving Andrew Napolitano (former judge of the New Jersey Superior Court).

If I were as ideologically motivated as Fox News is, I would have canceled Judge Napolitano too. It was always far more likely that his clear explanations of what it really means to live free would draw “traditional” Fox News viewers to the cause of liberty than it was likely the rest of Fox News would induce liberty-minded people to become neoconservatives (read: national socialists). Thus, keeping him around was tantamount to losing the ideological war with your own base. Also, I bet Rupert Murdoch doesn’t like the fact that one of his most popular hosts fundamentally disagreed with him on a number of things, including, namely, that the internet should be free from intrusive government control, where government acts as a puppet for the sake of large business concerns.

Anyway, I always wondered how long Judge Napolitano would last on Fox News given that he actually believes in real freedom, no war, low/no taxes and a desire to restore true narrow limits on government. His ratings are high, so the cancellation must be for some other reason, and I strongly venture they are ideological.