The Rise of Fox News | Plus: How Fox News Broke Stories So Fast

In the early 2000s, Fox News challenged CNN’s longtime dominance in ratings and cultural influence. Fox also began to lure away CNN employees like Ian McCaleb. In this exclusive episode for Slate Plus members, Slow Burn’s Josh Levin talks with McCaleb about his decision to switch teams, the Fox approach to breaking news, and how the network’s opinion shows affected his job covering the Department of Justice and the Pentagon. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive Slow Burn episodes, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 10 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Josh Levin. It was executive produced by Lizzie Jacobs. Slow Burn is produced by Sophie Summergrad, Joel Meyer, and Rosie Belson with help from Patrick Fort, Jacob Fenston, and Julia Russo. This episode was produced by Rosie Belson. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. This season was edited by Susan Matthews and Hillary Frey. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Our theme music was composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Derreck Johnson created the artwork for this season.