The messaging of Fox News and Donald Trump are about to become even more unified, thanks to the hiring of Hope Hicks as Fox’s chief communications officer. She’s Trumps devoted former communications director and will soon be in charge of public relations for Fox News.
Media Matters explains what it means to have one of Trump’s most trusted advisers heading Fox PR:
Hope Hicks used to manage President Donald Trump’s communications strategy. In her new job, she’s running public relations for the propaganda network deeply entwined with the president’s operations.
21st Century Fox announced Monday that Hicks will be executive vice president and chief communications officer for the new Fox, the portion of Rupert Murdoch’s empire that will be spun off after the Disney merger is complete. Fox will be headed by Murdoch’s shrewd elder son Lachlan; its assets will include the right-wing networks Fox News and Fox Business.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone explains why we can expect that Fox News will amplify its propagandizing for Trump as we head into the 2020 election cycle:
Hope Hicks’ presence at Fox will further align the Trump communications apparatus with the Fox News propaganda machine. Hiring Hicks for this role shortly after elevating the ad chief at Fox News to be in charge of advertising for all of New Fox indicates that Lachlan Murdoch is centering New Fox around the Fox News model. In doing so, Lachlan is making it clear that he intends to not merely tolerate Fox News’ extremism and political mission, but to actively facilitate it.
This is just the latest turn of the Fox/Trump revolving door. Hicks was replaced at the White House by former Fox co-president Bill Shine (who was granted an ethics waiver so he could keep in touch with Fox); Sebastian Gorka went from Fox to the White House, then back to Fox. Heather Nauert went from Fox & Friends to the fourth-highest position in the State Department; John Bolton is now the national security adviser.
Other Fox-to-Trump personnel include K.T McFarland (who left after becoming implicated in suspicious ties between the Trump campaign and Russia) and Monica Crowley, who had a change of heart about joining the administration right after multiple instances of plagiarism were discovered in her work. That has not prevented Fox from frequently hosting Crowley as a credible pundit since then.
And who can forget the 10-day tenure of Anthony Scaramucci, formerly of Fox Business Network, as White House communications director?
Then there’s Trump’s Unofficial Chief of Staff and Bedtime BFF Sean Hannity. By coincidence, Hannity all but offered Hicks a job at Fox News when she announced her resignation from the White House earlier this year.
Turns out she got an even better job.
Watch Hannity announce that Hicks “can work at Fox News” on the air, from the February 28, 2018 Hannity.
(Hicks/Hannity image via screen grab)