What Happened to the Journal Editorial Report on Fox News Channel?
Journal Editorial Report is a weekly half-hour American interview and panel discussion television program on Fox News Channel, hosted by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal. It draws its guests almost exclusively from Gigot’s staff and contributors to his page.
In one recent episode, Gigot interviewed Joseph Rago about a May 5 bylined column that described a wiggy professor at Dartmouth who allegedly threatened to sue her students.
It was cancelled
The Journal Editorial Report, a half-hour news & analysis program on the Fox News Channel, is helmed by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal. The show combines the best of investigative reporting with journalistic flair, offering the occasional witty banter and a slew of big-picture policy lessons for those who are serious about their civic responsibilities.
The show hasn’t been around for too long, but it is a staple of Fox’s primetime lineup, which includes 15 hours of daily entertainment and sports programming to 208 local market affiliates. A recent study found that among 18- to 34-year-olds, the network ranks as one of the top two primetime networks for households with a television.
The show is not without its detractors. Often it feels like the host, Gigot, is more interested in spicing up his own column than presenting viewers with a well-rounded discussion of what is going on in the news. And when outside guests are invited, the odds are stacked against them. The show’s most notable achievement is its ability to make the most of its time in the studio – there are a few good reasons why this is true.
It was renamed
If you are sick of watching cable news reducing everything it discusses to left-wing arguments against right-wing ones, tune in to The Journal Editorial Report. This half-hour program, hosted by Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, features a guest for the first half and a panel of Journal writers for the second.
The show typically draws its guests from Gigot’s staff and contributors to his page. It’s a weekly exercise in dim groupthink punctuated with laughter and knowing nods.
In 2008, for example, the show interviewed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It also invited Republican pollster Whit Ayres and former New York Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey, but it avoided the politically polarizing Republican candidate for president, Ron DeSantis.
During the first half of the program, Gigot interviews a guest to talk about their latest writing or a current event that piques his interest. He then asks a panel of editorial writers to give their opinions on the topic at hand.
The Journal Editorial Report has a track record of featuring conservatives on its guest list, but the show often seems to be more interested in demonstrating the conservative credentials of its hosts than it is in promoting liberal viewpoints. A June 8 episode featured Marvin Kalb, who is now a Fox News contributor, and former New York Times reporter David Gregory.
The Journal’s editorial board ultimately answers to Rupert Murdoch, who owns the paper and Fox Corp. But the editorial board’s staff has raised concerns about its leadership as a wave of protests against racism and police brutality has surged. In a letter published on Tuesday, the staff asked for the paper’s previous editor in chief, Gerard Baker, to be moved to the opinion section because of his columns that violated newsroom standards.
It was repurposed
The Journal Editorial Report is a weekly American interview and panel discussion TV program on the Fox News Channel, hosted by Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot. The program focuses on newsmakers from the world of politics and the economy, as well as Wall Street Journal editorial writers who provide their opinions on current issues. Generally, Gigot interviews a guest for the first half of the show, and then a panel of Journal editorial writers provides their take on the week’s hot topics. Almost all of the guests on The Journal Editorial Report are from The Wall Street Journal, and most are members of the Journal’s editorial staff.
It was repackaged
The repackaging of The Journal Editorial Report on Fox News Channel was a boon for cable news and for Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Gigot. The show, which aired on PBS for 15 months, was now a half-hour of interview and panel discussion with Journal editorial writers and their guests. Among the outsiders who appeared on the show were Newt Gingrich, John Sununu, Republican pollster Whit Ayres and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. But even when the guest list included a journalist, columnist or former White House staffer, The Journal Editorial Report tended to stick to its conservative sensibilities.
