Four years ago, Fox News sparked an internal crisis Bold call for election night that President Joe Biden would beat Donald Trump in the crucial state of Arizona. This year has shown what a difference four years can make.

Fox News wasn't the first network to declare early Wednesday that Trump had sealed his victory over Kamala Harris – upstart NewsNation, conservative rival Newsmax and Scripps Networks were the frontrunners – but its final call came nearly four hours before ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and The Associated Press made their own.

Judging by the cheers that erupted when Fox's call was shown to Trump faithful gathered at his victory party in West Palm Beach, it was a decision that was certainly much better received by viewers than the 2020 call.

“If you don’t like the cake, you’re not going to like the recipe,” said Chris Stirewalt, NewsNation political editor. “If you like the cake, you’ll love the recipe.”

Trump and Fox can both make a comeback on election night

Fox's Bret Baier called Trump's victory “the greatest political phoenix-from-the-ashes story we've ever seen,” and Fox is making a comeback of its own.

Fox's call in Arizona in 2020 infuriated Trump and many of the network's viewers. Although it ultimately proved correct, it got off the ground angry internal reflection and led some Fox personalities to embrace conspiracy theories that ultimately cost the network a staggering $787 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems.

NewsNation, using information from election forecasting firm Decision Desk HQ, made its call at 1:22 a.m. Wednesday. Scripps and Newsmax, which also use DDHQ, issued the same statement within a minute.

At about that point, Baier said that “we’re not there yet,” but noted there was no path to victory for Harris. Fox called at 1:47 a.m

The AP called the election for Trump at 5:34 a.m. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the AP all made their calls within moments. The AP explained that his statement that Trump won after giving Wisconsin to the former president by determining that the remaining uncounted votes from the Milwaukee area for Harris would not be enough to overcome Trump's lead there.

For NewsNation's Stirewalt, his station's early call Wednesday was a great irony. In 2020, he was a political editor at Fox News and, along with fellow executive Bill Sammon, were essentially laid off after the outcry over the Arizona call – even though they were right.

“It would be easy to overstate the results, and I want to be careful not to do that,” he said. “I say this, it is a victory for the way things used to be done and a personal vindication.”

Let the numbers do the talking

He said Decision Desk HQ and NewsNation let the numbers do the talking on their calls. He would not criticize rivals for waiting longer and said it was a natural reaction to be cautious about racing decisions after the events of 2020.

The joy of some viewers over the call from Fox was obvious to some Social media posts. Fox rejects any suggestion that his calls are politically motivated and that his decision-making body is led by him Veteran Arnon Mishkinenjoys great reputation in the industry. Stirewalt called Mishkin “outstanding” and said, “It's to Fox's credit that they kept him while they didn't keep Bill Sammon and me.”

In recent years, a strong conservative media ecosystem has emerged that can compete with Fox. But the network remains the front-runner, as evidenced again Wednesday by the Nielsen firm's preliminary ratings for election night television coverage.

Fox averaged 9.7 million viewers in prime time, well ahead of runner-up ABC News, which had 5.7 million. Newsmax, Fox's main competitor for conservative viewers, had 947,000 viewers and NewsNation had 237,000, Nielsen said.

“I am extremely proud of our team's commitment to delivering world-class reporting and analysis to the largest and most politically diverse news audience,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said of Tuesday night's ratings, according to the network.

Trump's complicated relationship with the network is also a testament to his enduring influence. The Republican candidate was a regular guest on his shows during the campaign, particularly on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” but also there complains bitterly on social media if he doesn't like something said there.

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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.