Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano

Last updated
Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano
Freedom Watch logo.jpg
Genre Talk show, Political commentary
Presented by Andrew Napolitano
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 minutes (original series)
6 minutes (revival series)
Original release
Network Fox Business Network
ReleaseFebruary 11, 2009 (2009-02-11)
ReleaseJune 12, 2010 (2010-06-12) 
February 13, 2012 (2012-02-13)
ReleaseMay 24, 2016 (2016-05-24) 
November 7, 2018 (2018-11-07)

Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano is a television show hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano, on Fox Business Network. The show aired from 2009 to 2012, focusing mainly on libertarian issues and perspectives.

Contents

The show

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 10:00 A.M., and featured then-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, 15 November 2010, Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano began to air new episodes every weeknight at 8:00 P.M. ET. [4]   Initially described as "the top-rated show on Fox Business," its ratings apparently began to slip in 2011. [5]

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.

In the next segment of each episode, which he called the Freedom Files, he would itemise some violations or victories of freedom.

The second to last segment in each episode was a round table with a group of people of various political inclinations, anointed his Freedom Fighters.  He would always have one person of a generally "liberal" outlook, one person of a generally "conservative" outlook, and one person of a generally "libertarian" outlook in this round table.

Each episode was then summed up with a monologue given by Napolitano, describing how the principles of liberty and justice applied to the issues at hand.  This final segment was called The Plain Truth.

Cancellation

Satirical graphic advocating the return of Freedom Watch, using catch phrases from the show, integrated into each protest sign Freedom-watch-protest.png
Satirical graphic advocating the return of Freedom Watch, using catch phrases from the show, integrated into each protest sign

In February 2012, Fox Business announced that while Napolitano would remain a network contributor, Freedom Watch (along with two other shows) was cancelled, in preference for a new lineup that would simply re-run popular episodes of other Fox Business shows each day.  The final episode was aired on Monday, 13 February 2012.

Return

On May 24, 2016 Fox News posted an approximate five-minute episode of Freedom Watch, and a second one on June 7, 2016. [6] [7] In an interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie posted on July 18, 2018, Napolitano announced that the show would be returning to the air "probably before Thanksgiving" in 2018. [8] On November 27, 2018 Napolitano began the show on Fox Nation , with the show re-titled Liberty File with Judge Napolitano. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stossel</span> American reporter, investigative journalist, author, and libertarian columnist

John Frank Stossel is an American libertarian television presenter, author, consumer journalist, political activist, and pundit. He is known for his career as a host on ABC News, Fox Business Network, and Reason TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nolan Chart</span> Political spectrum diagram

The Nolan Chart is a political spectrum diagram created by American libertarian activist David Nolan in 1969, charting political views along two axes, representing economic freedom and personal freedom. It expands political view analysis beyond the traditional one-dimensional left–right/progressive-conservative divide, positioning libertarianism outside the traditional spectrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC Kids (TV programming block)</span> U.S. childrens television programming block (1997–2011)

ABC Kids was an American Saturday morning children's programming block that aired on ABC from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. It featured a mixture of animated and live-action series from Walt Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel, aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 14. This was the only time Disney Channel content aired on over-the-air television in the United States.

Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically the radio and the television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennedy (commentator)</span> American political satirist, media personality

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, referred to mononymously as Kennedy, is an American libertarian political commentator, radio personality, author, and former MTV VJ. She currently serves as a commentator on Fox News Channel, a primary guest host of Fox's Outnumbered, The Five, and Fox News Saturday Night, as well as host of the Podcast Kennedy Saves The World on Fox News Radio. Kennedy was the host of MTV's now-defunct daily late-night alternative-rock program Alternative Nation throughout much of the 1990s. She hosted Kennedy on the Fox Business Network from 2015 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Napolitano</span> American syndicated columnist

Andrew Peter Napolitano is an American former jurist and syndicated columnist whose work appears in numerous publications, including The Washington Times and Reason. Napolitano served as a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995. He also served as a visiting professor at Widener University Delaware Law School, Seton Hall University School of Law, and Brooklyn Law School. Beginning in 1997, he became an analyst for Fox News, commenting on legal news and trials. Napolitano was removed from the network in August 2021 following sexual harassment allegations. He has written nine books on legal and political subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YES Network</span> American regional sports network

The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, Amazon, and The Blackstone Group, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company, which each own 13%. Primarily serving New York City, New York and the surrounding metropolitan area, it broadcasts a variety of sports events, as well as magazine, documentary and discussion programs; however, its main emphasis is focused on games and team-related programs involving the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA's New York Liberty and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Root Sports Northwest</span> Regional sports television network

Root Sports Northwest is an American regional sports network owned as a 71/29 joint venture between the Seattle Mariners and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) respectively, the latter of which operates it through its sports unit. Headquartered near Seattle in the city of Bellevue, Washington, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Seattle and Portland. It is available on cable providers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska and nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

<i>Red Eye</i> (talk show) American late-night/early morning satirical talk show on Fox News

Red Eye, also known as Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld from 2007 to 2015 and Red Eye w/ Tom Shillue from 2015 to 2017, was an American late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on Fox News, which aired at 3:00 a.m. ET Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 p.m. Saturday, and 2:00 a.m. Sunday. The show featured panelists and guests discussing the latest news in politics, pop culture, entertainment, business, sports, and religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Business</span> American business channel

Fox Business is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Launched on October 15, 2007, the network features trading day coverage and a nightly lineup of opinion-based talk shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign for Liberty</span> American political organization

The Campaign for Liberty (C4L) is a political organization founded by twelve-term United States Congressman Ron Paul. Campaign for Liberty focuses on educating elected officials and the general public about constitutional issues, and currently provides a membership program. Its legal status is that of a 501(c)(4) nonprofit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Students for Liberty</span> Libertarian students organization

Students For Liberty (SFL) is an international libertarian non-profit organization with origins in the United States. Formed in 2008, SFL grew to a network of 1,000 student organizations worldwide by 2014.

<i>Stossel</i> (TV series) Defunct American TV series

Stossel is a weekly American television talk show, hosted by John Stossel, highlighting current consumer issues, with a libertarian viewpoint. It was broadcast between 2009 and 2016. The program debuted on December 10, 2009, on the Fox Business Network and aired on Fridays—originally at 8:00 pm EST, but was moved to 9:00 pm EST. In 2013, Fox News Channel began to replay the show occasionally on weekends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Johnson 2012 presidential campaign</span> 2012 presidential campaign by Gary Johnson

The 2012 presidential campaign of Gary Johnson, the 29th governor of New Mexico, was announced on April 21, 2011. He declared his candidacy for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. On December 28, 2011, Johnson withdrew his candidacy for the Republican nomination, and declared his candidacy for the 2012 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. The 2012 Libertarian National Convention was held during the first weekend of May 2012. On May 5, 2012, after promoting his libertarian-oriented political positions to delegates, Johnson received the most votes at the convention and became the official 2012 Libertarian presidential nominee. On November 6, 2012, Johnson received just under 1% of the popular vote in the general election, amounting to more than 1.2 million votes, more than double what the Barr/Root ticket received in 2008. This was the most successful result for a third-party presidential candidacy since 2000, and the best in the Libertarian Party's history by vote number at the time. Johnson ran again in 2016 and received nearly four times his 2012 vote total.

<i>Oprahs Lifeclass</i> American TV series or program

Oprah's Lifeclass is an American primetime television show hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey, which aired on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The series premiered on October 10, 2011.

Anthony Gregory is an American historian and author. He has published two books on civil liberties in the United States and in the English legal tradition. Prior to becoming an academic historian, Gregory published hundreds of essays during his tenure as a research fellow at the Independent Institute, a libertarian think tank in the United States.

Media Buzz is an hour-long news media criticism program hosted by Howard Kurtz. The show airs live on Sunday mornings at 11:00 AM and generally discusses politics and pop culture issues from a moderate perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Petersen</span> American writer, political activist, and producer (born 1981)

Austin Wade Petersen is an American writer, political activist, commentator, and broadcaster. He is the host of the Wake Up America show daily newscast. He was the runner-up for the Libertarian Party's nomination for President of the United States in 2016, finishing second place to Gary Johnson with 21.9% of the vote.

A series of political debates were held between the Libertarian candidates for US president in the 2016 presidential election.

References

  1. "It's Official! Freedom Watch Coming To TV!". Archived from the original on 2010-04-25. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
  2. Stetler, Brian (13 June 2010). "Libertarian Talk, Now on Fox Business Network". The New York Times . Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  3. Shea, Danny (14 June 2010). "'Freedom Watch': Fox Business Goes Libertarian With Andrew Napolitano For Tea Party TV". Huffington Post.
  4. "Freedom Watch, on FBN". Fox Business . Archived from the original on June 15, 2010.
  5. "Is FBN's New Weekend Show Freedom Watch Really #1? Not Right Now". August 3, 2010.
  6. "Judge Andrew Napolitano's Freedom Watch is Back".
  7. "Napolitano: Hillary or Trump more female-friendly?". Fox News. 24 May 2016.
  8. "Judge Andrew Napolitano on Trump, SCOTUS, and the Return of Freedom Watch". 18 July 2018.
  9. @Judgenap (27 November 2018). "Liberty File on Fox Nation @foxnation 1st show complete Please subscribe" (Tweet) via Twitter.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano at Wikimedia Commons