[US midterm election] Did Murdoch cut off Trump? Even Fox News shows signs of change in attitude

As the Republican Party suffered a crushing defeat in the U.S. midterm elections, there is analysis that media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who represented the voice of conservatives, may have begun to 'cut off Trump'.

According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 4th (local time), Fox News, a news channel owned by the Murdoch family, founders of News Corporation, pointed out that President Donald Trump was the cause of the defeat in the midterm election.

Anchor Sean Hannity, a representative supporter of President Trump, was asked whether the election results would have been different if President Trump had not gone to war with Iran, and answered, "100% yes. There is no doubt about it."

Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host who is considered a leading Trump supporter, also said of the Iran war, "It was really difficult and it wasn't explained properly."

Even President Trump does not hide his dissatisfaction with the changed atmosphere of Fox News.

While watching Fox News on the night of the election, he criticized the hosts one after another through social media.

The day after the election, newspapers owned by Murdoch all blamed President Trump for the midterm election defeat.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) defined President Trump as the person responsible for engineering the defeat of the Republican Party in an editorial immediately after the election.

WSJ criticized President Trump, who returned to the White House, for wasting an opportunity to reform and develop conservative politics in the United States, saying he was capricious and self-centered.

At the same time, he urged the Republican Party to begin discussions about the “post-Trump era.”

The New York Post, a popular newspaper, featured an image of a huge blue tsunami hitting President Trump on its front page.

Along with this, ‘Trump’s historic judgment… It was titled ‘Democratic Party landslide victory in midterm election’.

Regarding Murdoch's media outlets all criticizing President Trump, a former senior executive at News Corporation said, "Murdoch doesn't want to be around a loser."

Murdoch's interest is only to exert influence by supporting the politician who will be the winner in advance.

This former executive pointed out, "Murdoch is no longer interested in Trump. He is only interested in the viewers."

However, some analyzes say that it will not be easy for Fox News to break up with President Trump right away.

This is because Fox News' core audience is voters who strongly support Trump.

In particular, competing conservative channel Newsmax is aiming to profit from changes at Fox News.

In fact, Fox News' prime time viewership ratings fell 28% last month compared to a year ago.

President Trump claimed that the reason for the decline in Fox News' ratings was "because they are against me."

Despite some signs of change, some say the relationship between President Trump and Fox News remains close.

Even though President Trump attacked Fox News on social media on the day of the election, he still showed a close relationship with them by appearing on the air via phone and giving an interview for over 20 minutes.