Freedom Watch
| Freedom Watch | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Talk show, Political commentary |
| Presented by | Andrew Napolitano |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox Business Network |
| Original run | February 2009 (online) June 12, 2010 (television) – February 2012 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Freedom Watch was a television show hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano, on Fox Business network. The show aired from 2009 to 2012, focusing mainly on libertarian-conservative issues and perspectives.
Contents |
[edit] History
Freedom Watch was created in February 2009 as an online show and originally webcast once a week. In September 2009, the show began webcasting three or four times a week. Frequent guests of the online show included Congressman Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and Peter Schiff.
In May 2010, it was announced that the show would be televised on the Fox Business Network.[1] The first televised episode, dubbed the "Tea Party Summit", aired on June 12, 2010 at 10 am, featuring Congressman Ron Paul, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, then U.S. Senate Republican candidate, now U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey.[2][3]
On Monday, November 15, 2010, Freedom Watch began to air new episodes every weeknight at 8:00pm ET.[4] Initially described as "the top-rated show on Fox Business", its ratings apparently began to slip in 2011[5].
In February 2012, Fox Business announced that while Napolitano would remain a contributor, Freedom Watch (along with two other shows) was cancelled, in preference for a new lineup that simply re-runs popular episodes of other Fox Business shows each day. The final episode was shown on Monday, February 13th, 2012.
[edit] Format
Judge Napolitano followed a pattern on the show:
Each episode started with a short description of a liberty-oriented issue, laid out specifically as a segue into the phrase
...upheld [or undermined, or needs to learn] these principles:
- That government is best which governs least.
- The people are entitled to a government that stays within the confines of the constitution.
- The constitution was written to keep the government off the people's backs.
Napolitano would then have guests with whom he discussed various issues of the day.
Coming back from one segment each episode, he would itemize some violations or victories of freedom, which he called the Freedom Files.
The second to last segment, each episode, was a round table with a group of people of various political inclinations, anointed his Freedom Fighters.
Each show was then summed up with a monologue given by Napolitano, describing how the principles of liberty and justice applied to the issues at hand, called The Plain Truth.
[edit] References
- ^ http://freedomwatchonfox.com/2010/04/20/its-official-freedom-watch-coming-to-tv/101519/
- ^ Stetler, Brian. "Libertarian Talk, Now on Fox Business Network". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/business/media/14fox.html?ref=media. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/14/freedom-watch-fox-busines_n_610933.html
- ^ http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/freedom-watch/
- ^ [1]
