The Only Thing That Will Save OAN From Extinction
Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters for America, breaks down the fall of One America News and how the channel is trying to save itself.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty
One America News Network, also known as OAN, is dangerously close to extinction—and not for a lack of American interest in right-wing extremism and conspiracy theories.
OAN essentially shot to media fame during the 2020 election, pushing Fox News even further to the right. It’s also where America’s MAGA sweetheart, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, got her cable start. So, how is it facing its demise already, and why?
According to this bonus episode’s New Abnormal guest, Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters for America, the answer has nothing to do with advertisers or viewership. It stems back to recent news that DirecTV plans to give the channel the boot—and a broken promise from AT&T when it launched 12 years ago.
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“They don’t have a lot of cable companies that carry them,” he explains. “There is no path for One America News without this. Even if nobody watches, if you have ‘carriage,’ you get money,” he explains.
OAN has a Hail Mary plan though, Carusone tells hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy. The question is, will it work?
“They’re gonna try to get Dish Network to pick them up,” he says. “I really do think the next few months are gonna be significant if they’re not able to get Dish Network.”
Molly asks if there’s anything people can do to stop OAN from succeeding, and the answer is yes, and one that Carusone thinks can even take down Fox News in the process.
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