Shikha Dalmia: Bill O’Reilly’s Ouster Shows How Free Market Can Work
Dalmia discusses the role money plays in important decisions.
This week Bill O’Reilly of Fox News was fired after an exodus of commercial sponsors in the wake of sexual harassment accusations from several women.
Shikha Dalmia, senior analyst with the Reason Foundation and writer for Reason Magazine, joins Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today to discuss reasons why Fox pulled the plug on O’Reilly.
Dalmia says that it was not until New York Times did an exposé on O’Reilly a few weeks ago that the pressure to eject him began to build.
“His viewers were solidly loyal behind him even though these allegations were well-known,” Dalmia says.
She also talks about how complicated the free market is and the multiple pressure points within a market. She says the case of O’Reilly shows that if one market pressure point does not work — in this case, his viewers not holding him accountable — there are other pressure points that can work to handle a situation. Although, she notes that these kinds of pressure tactics can be problematic.
Dalmia also discusses her recent article explaining parallels between political attitudes toward modern undocumented immigrants and fugitive slaves in the 19th Century.
Click on the audio player above to hear the full conversation.
