Since Fox News Channel was brought under new leadership last year with the retirement of longtime chief Rupert Murdoch and the ascension of his son James Murdoch to run the operation, the news channel has swung hard to middle-Left. It’s not that Fox News is a liberal network, especially compared to the others. It’s that it has given free access to its broadcast time and airwaves to those who denounce the president at every turn. President Donald Trump has noticed.

….Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others. They repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points, and lies. All of the good is totally nullified, and more. Net Result = BAD! CNN & MSDNC are all in for the Do Nothing Democrats! Fox WAS Great!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020

Now granted, Fox News is a private company and thus has every right to posture its coverage as it sees fit. But for at least two decades the network was reliably conservative and kept a relative balance in the cable news industry. With competitors like CNN and MSNBC nipping at their heels, Fox News almost always beat them in ratings and, when the GOP was in the White House, was ascendant in media influence over government and political culture.

But since James Murdoch took over that has changed somewhat. Murdoch himself is no conservative and his wife has worked for the Clinton Global Initiative. That group is a Clinton duo organization that makes a habit of robbing poor nations blind and throwing posh green energy conferences that feature Hollywood celebrities flying in on gas- guzzling private jets.

For the longest time Shepard Smith was the Fox News in-house liberal. But ironically, right before the network turned to port, Smith left complaining privately of right-wing bias. What Murdoch and Smith miss is that the conservative tilt of the news operation ensures the American people have at least one other point of view to counter the constant drumbeat of liberal propaganda coming out of almost all the other news networks.

When the press is doing its job, which it hasn’t done well or honestly since the 1960s, it acts as guardian for the public. It, as the phrase goes, should “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” But as government and statist politicians have become the most comfortable people in the country, the press has embraced them and gone after the views and principles of hard-working everyday Americans. It has turned that phrase on its head and with it has lost any claim to integrity or professionalism.

However, Fox News was an exception—until recently. The network still has many conservative stars in its firmament. Brit Hume, Brett Baier, Bill Hemmer, Jessie Waters, Lou Dobbs, and others still have their shows and are doing well in the ratings. And yes, divergent views should be welcome so viewers can make up their own minds on the issues of the day.

But when you start giving those views precedence and priority, when you begin to undercut a balanced tone with Democrat talking points, when you online and during broadcasts leave the distinct impression that you desire to leave your viewers with a liberal perspective on the topic at hand, then a network just becomes another one of the bleating sheep in the herd of liberal and left-wing biased cable news outfits.

Fox News Channel used to be better than that and President Trump recognizes it. Let’s hope some day soon, before they surrender to the full embrace of the Left, Fox News sees the same thing.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on May 26, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Alyssa Milano gets relentlessly mocked for posting crocheted face mask: ‘Masks keep people safe and healthy’
The toughest battle ever fought by the U.S. military
Ann Coulter blasts President Trump in a deranged rant: ‘You blithering idiot’

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Steve Gruber.