One America News Network
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right,[17] pro-Trump[26] cable news and political opinion commentary channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013.[31] The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Country
United States
Nationwide
English
1080i HDTV
(downconverted to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
July 4, 2013
The company said in 2019 OANN was available in 35 million homes and that its audience ranged from 150,000 to as large as 500,000, though that year Nielsen Media Research estimated its viewership to be about 14,000.[29][6] By July 2022, the network was available only to a few hundred thousand people who subscribed to smaller cable providers.[32]
In 2019, Robert Herring Sr. testified in court that the network was created at the urging of executives of AT&T, which through its subsidiary DirecTV has since been the source of up to 90% of the network's revenues.[2] DirecTV stopped carrying OANN in 2022.[33]
The network's prime-time political talk shows have a conservative perspective, and the channel has described itself as one of the "greatest supporters" of Donald Trump.[34] Trump himself has promoted both the network and some of its hosts.[38] The channel is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories.[47]
History
OANN was announced on March 14, 2013, by Herring Networks, Inc., an independent media company founded in 2003 by conservative businessman Robert Herring, Sr. The OANN channel originally debuted in partnership with The Washington Times, a conservative daily newspaper founded by the Unification Church from South Korea.[48][49] Herring said in 2013 that under OANN's agreement with The Washington Times, the new network could use any Times content, but was not obligated to do so; he also said at the time that between 60 and 65 Herring Broadcasting employees spent "most of their days" on One America.[50]
Herring told the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference that "Fox News has done a great job serving the center-right and independent audiences", but that the audience's alternative news sources lacked variety.[51][52]
Reuters reported in October 2021 that it had reviewed court documents showing the network was created in 2013 at the urging of executives of AT&T, which has since been the source of up to 90% of the network's revenues. In a 2020 deposition, a company accountant testified that lacking a contract with AT&T subsidiary DirecTV, the network's value "would be zero." Court documents showed the network promised to "cast a positive light" on AT&T during newscasts.[2]
In July 2014, OANN relocated its news and production studios from the Washington Times building to 101 Constitution Avenue NW, near the Capitol.[53]
At the beginning of 2020, it was reported that Trump allies were looking into purchasing OANN.[54]
In November 2020, YouTube suspended OANN for one week and ended its ability to monetize its existing content as a first strike under its three-strike community guideline violation policy for advertising a false cure for COVID-19.[45]
As of April 2021, its YouTube channel had close to 1.5 million subscribers.[55] Approximately 150 employees worked at its San Diego headquarters.[55]
DirecTV said in January 2022 that it would not renew its contract with Herring Networks, which expired in April 2022, affecting OANN and its sister channel AWE, which would be removed from DirecTV's satellite and U-verse TV services.[56][57][58] In response, OANN host Dan Ball said that OANN "is now at war with AT&T" and urged viewers to dig up "dirt" on AT&T board chairman William Kennard.[59][60] The channels were dropped from DirecTV on April 4, 2022; some staff members left the network for other employment.[61]
Verizon Fios, OANN's largest remaining carrier, notified its customers on July 21, 2022, that it could not come to terms to renew its contract with OANN and would remove the network from its service in nine days.[62] August 1, 2022 was OANN's final day on cable or satellite,[63] marking the end of OANN's availability on major carriers.[64] OANN commentator Pearson Sharp said on-air that OANN was dropped because Verizon is a "radical Marxist" corporation.[65][63]
Programming
As of August 2022, shows airing on OANN include: Real America with Dan Ball, In Focus with Addison Smith, and Tipping Point.[66]
In August 2014, OANN launched the show On Point with Tomi Lahren. Many clips from the program went viral, and by 2015 Lahren had gained widespread attention for her commentaries. On August 19, 2015, Lahren aired her final show at OANN.[67][68] On the week of August 24, 2015 former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin guest-hosted a program on the network.[69]
In 2019, the channel aired the Canadian television film Claws of the Red Dragon, which had signed Steve Bannon as its American distributor.[70]
Reception
In March 2015, University of Southern California media professor Marty Kaplan praised the network for its focus on what he viewed as impartial news reporting, writing in The Huffington Post, "Ten minutes of OAN tells me eight stories; 10 minutes of Fox or MSNBC tells me one story, to make me mad," while commenting that OANN's opinion segments were "as delusional and incendiary as anything on conservative talk radio or Fox."[181] He has since expressed a different view of the network, telling Columbia Journalism Review that, where once the talk shows were "sand traps" in a "large field of green", the network "fairly quickly" became "more like the Sahara".[182] Don Kaplan (no relation to Marty) of the New York Daily News echoed similar sentiments to Marty Kaplan's initial view, writing in December 2016 that, "it's by far one of the most fair news outlets around, serving up a daily diet of ad-free, non-ideological, nonstop news—without smirking, snarky anchors or much fanfare" while stating that its opinion segments "skew hard to the right."[183]
In July 2017, Marc Fisher wrote in The Washington Post that the network was "a reliably sympathetic voice of the [Trump] administration's goals and actions".[35] In July 2018, Media Matters for America criticized OANN host Liz Wheeler for advancing conspiracy theories relating to the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy and other abortion topics and tying tangentially related news stories to the "so-called liberal hypocrisy on abortion."[184] In 2019, the English Wikipedia deprecated OANN, along with The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller, with the consensus for OANN being that it publishes "falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and intentionally misleading stories".[185]
In an April 2020 Last Week Tonight segment, John Oliver called the channel "a combination of far-right wing talking points and dirt-stupid reporting," criticizing its hosts, methods, ideology, accuracy, promotion of unfounded conspiracy theories, and closeness to the Trump administration.[186][187]
Ratings
In June 2019, OANN said it was available in 35 million homes and its audience ranged from 150,000 to as large as 500,000, though Nielsen Media Research estimated its viewership that year to be about 14,000. The company does not subscribe to Nielsen, citing its high fees, so regular audience estimates are not available.[188]
