Hi, I'm Dan Pramak, and welcome to Axios Recap, presented by Facebook.

Today is Friday, August 28. Tech stocks are up, rolling averages for new COVID cases and

COVID deaths are down, and we're focused on the Fox News cycle.

Both political conventions are now over, and the ratings are in, at least mostly.

What we've learned is that the first three nights of the Democratic National Convention got

better ratings than did the first three nights of the Republican National Convention.

Final numbers for the final RNC night, when Trump gave his acceptance speech, won't come out until after we tape, but preliminary ratings called overnights suggest that the trend line will hold.

But not all was lost for Trump fans. Fox News Channel dominated. Its Tuesday R&C audience was the largest any network has ever recorded for night two of an RNC. On Wednesday night, it averaged

7.1 million views at 10 p.m. while no other network even hit 2 million, not even the broadcast

channels available in many more homes than is Fox. Now, this probably shouldn't be surprising,

because finding the dividing line between Fox News and Donald Trump has become

almost impossible. Just look at the number of Fox Newsers who've been hired to work in the White

House. Or Trump's Twitter feed, which sometimes looks like a Fox News Clips Gallery, or how often

the two are the key cogs in a misinformation cycle, with Trump saying something false

that gets amplified by Fox or vice versa.

Why it matters is that Fox News hosts, elected by nothing more than Nielsen ratings,

have the ability now to influence national policy. It's unprecedented in American history,

and the subject of a buzzy new book by Brian Stelter, chiefrespondent at Fox rival CNN. We'll talk to Brian in 15 seconds.

But first, this.

We're joined now by Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media correspondent, and author of the new book

Hoax, Donald Trump, Fox News, and the dangerous distortion of truth. Brian, the idea that President Trump

and Fox have a symbiotic relationship obviously isn't breaking news for most Americans.

...