Roger Ailes Interview…
The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, who’s on a roll this week, interviews Roger Ailes. This is part 1. Part 2 is tomorrow…
Sipping coffee from a “Fair & Balanced” mug, Ailes insists that his channel lives up to the logo in its treatment of the administration. “We are not interested in savaging them. We are interested in the truth. We’re interested in two points of view; most networks aren’t.” Fox has beaten the drums on some stories that the mainstream media have wound up following, such as allegations that led to the resignation of environmental aide Van Jones, and others—such as a voter-intimidation case involving two New Black Panther Party members—that are widely viewed as overblown.
Ailes may dismiss the constant carping about Fox, but he understands the importance of public perception. He says he was “totally surprised” when his parent company, News Corp., donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association and another $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce—and realized that “lefties would use it to immediately try to damage Fox News.”
But Ailes registered no protest. “Rupert Murdoch’s worked for 60 years,” he says. “He’s the biggest media mogul in the world. I don’t think anyone can tell him what to do with his money. That’s sort of his right.”
In a conversation about the donations, Ailes recalls, Murdoch told him: “I hope that didn’t cause you any problems.”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Ailes replied.
Inside Cable News 
November 17, 2010 at 7:26 am
The thing that caught my eye was the comment that he gave the word to lay off the KO story and everyone did. It wasn’t about laying off KO that surprised me but rather the total control he has over his network.
These guys (and girls) can’t go to the bathroom without checking first with Ailes first. That surprises me and it makes clear how made up stories stories suddenly get wall to wall coverage even with the supposedly straight reporters/hosts like Hemmer & Kelly. The only one who left who really bucks the system there is Shep.
I just can’t see Phil Griffin telling any of his hosts to cover a story or not and not getting laughed at; but then FNC is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party and MSNBC just has hosts with a POV. 😉
November 17, 2010 at 7:48 am
“—that are widely viewed as overblown.”
Howie forgot to add “by the left”.
That simple statement by Kurtz is a prime example of why people like me have such a hatred for the media. It may be viewed as overblown by the elitists in D.C. & N.Y., but it’s not by the rest of the country.
November 17, 2010 at 7:50 am
“That surprises me and it makes clear how made up stories stories suddenly get wall to wall coverage even with the supposedly straight reporters/hosts like Hemmer & Kelly.”
It’s like how MSNBC employees, in order to save the planet, are contractually obligated to ride unicorns to work.
See, I can make up stuff too.
November 17, 2010 at 8:03 am
That surprises me and it makes clear how made up stories stories suddenly get wall to wall coverage…
And you drew that conclusion… how, exactly?
November 17, 2010 at 8:32 am
“And you drew that conclusion… how, exactly?”
Like this. 😉
Ailes: Run this story just saw on Braitbart.
FNC host: But it has no basis in fact.
Ailes: It doesn’t matter; it helps the Republicans and trashes Obama.
FNC host: But that’s just wrong.
Ailes: I hear Christine O’Donnell is looking for a job in cable news.
FNC host: Oh, now it makes sense to me. I’ll get it on next hour.
November 17, 2010 at 8:37 am
^Insert ‘I’ between ‘story’ & ‘just’. Sorry.
November 17, 2010 at 8:37 am
“The only time in my career that anyone ever told me I had to say something was when I was with a different organization,” says senior White House correspondent Jim Angle, who worked at ABC for three years and National Public Radio for nine years before joining Fox in 1996.
November 17, 2010 at 8:52 am
fritz3 Says:
November 17, 2010 at 8:32 am
Got it… you just made it up.
November 17, 2010 at 9:07 am
Yeah blue the dialogue is just a possible/probable one; but my point still stands; Ailes calls the shots re what airs on FNC.
Source Roger Ailes via Howie Kurtz.
“It’s no accident that Fox,…barely mentioned Keith Olbermann’s suspension… Ailes had sent word to the troops that it wasn’t much of a story.”
November 17, 2010 at 9:11 am
J$: What did you expect Angle to say ‘Yeah, Roger Ailes tells me what to say.’ Sheesh!
Major Garrett’s leaving looks a bit different in the light of this interview.
November 17, 2010 at 9:22 am
Yeah, right. Everyone there is part of the conspiracy. They all say whatever they’re told to. Oh, and fire doesn’t melt steel.
November 17, 2010 at 9:44 am
Why would anyone think that a manager would have some influence over his staff?!
Crazy!
November 17, 2010 at 9:51 am
Roger Ailes…Phil Griffin. Hmmm. Who’s management style is best emulated? That’s a toughie.
November 17, 2010 at 10:09 am
“Crazy!”
I imagine if you believe it couldn’t happen at FNC then you would think it’s crazy.
You should take it up with Howie Kurtz; I’m just quoting him.
November 17, 2010 at 10:12 am
“Everyone there is part of the conspiracy.”
There’s no conspiracy John; they’re just following orders.
November 17, 2010 at 10:13 am
Actually, I just think it’s part of being a good manager.
November 17, 2010 at 10:17 am
The MSNBC brass issued an order telling their people to stop attacking each other so obviously everyone over there is told what to do and they just follow along like puppets.
Honestly fritz, where do you come up with this stuff? BTW, JFK was killed by alien fraternity pledges from the University of Uranus in an initiation ritual.
November 17, 2010 at 10:30 am
“The MSNBC brass issued an order telling their people to stop attacking each other so obviously everyone over there is told what to do and they just follow along like puppets.”
^Come LS that comparison is just lame. If they had said don’t attack the Hannity or Beck then you would have a case. Don’t attack other hosts, on your own network, is just common sense. It would be surprising if they hadn’t issued that order.
Honestly fritz, where do you come up with this stuff?
I didn’t, Howie Kurtz did. I just noted his comment.
November 17, 2010 at 10:40 am
^ Do you not remember the Olbermann “ban” where he was (allegedly) told to stop talking about O’Reilly (and did… for a while).
Oh, how soon we forget…
November 17, 2010 at 10:48 am
^Key word ‘allegedly’.
November 17, 2010 at 10:55 am
fritz3 Says:
November 17, 2010 at 10:48 am
Depends on who you ask… as I recall, Spud wasn’t much for believing the “alleged” nature of this “alleged” ban.
November 17, 2010 at 11:06 am
really blows my mind how anyone can buy the bull that ailes spouts. fact: ailes still plays a big role in the republican party even though he might be called a “former republican political campaign big boy”. He uses his campaign expertise to postion fox has the official mouth of the republican party. how anyone can’t see this is beyond me!
November 17, 2010 at 11:26 am
Some of these comments by Ailes are just appalling. This is the news chief of a major cable network openly saying:
“He [the President] just has a different belief system than most Americans.”
And
“The president has not been very successful,”
Imagine if we had Republican President and the head of CNN or MSNBC saying such things? The people defending Ailes here would be jumping up and down over them.
Keep your opinions to yourself, Mr. Ailes. Act like a professional and just stick to managing the news for your network.
Really, for a smart man he sure is dumb.
November 17, 2010 at 12:03 pm
harry1420 Says:
November 17, 2010 at 11:06 am
Do you feel the same about Jeff Imelt, and all the work he’s done for the Obama Administration… AND the fact that he runs GE… AND the fact that at the present time, they also own MSNBC?
I’m just glad Ted Turner never talked politics. Oh wait…
November 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm
And what’s wrong with this “work he’s done” with the Obama administration? Does that mean NBC and Obama are in cahoots and plotting to revolt against Fox News and take them down for good? Come on, INB… give me some of the conspiracy theories O’Reilly likes to come up with.
November 17, 2010 at 4:21 pm
^ Prog, you really need to reread the comment I was responding to.
Oh, and respond to that post you were hyping about J$. Where is that, I wonder?
November 17, 2010 at 6:31 pm
LOL… when did I ever “hype” it? I simply said it would be posted.
Why do you act like J$’s fetching boy so much? What, Johnny can’t ask about it himself, so he sends you?
November 17, 2010 at 9:21 pm
ProgLib Says:
November 17, 2010 at 6:31 pm
You “hyped” it with all your excuses on why it wasn’t there. You “hyped” it on your own site, saying you were “exposing his weekly lies,” or some such nonsense. And yet… nuthin’.
J$ doesn’t send me anywhere, or tell me much of anything. But I and many people who read his blog, are so very interested in this “expose'” you’ve promised (but have been dodging for weeks), I feel the need to bring it up here, since you don’t come to play around there anymore.
Anyway, do you get what I was saying above? If you’re (the royal “you’re,” not you specifically) going to complain about Ailes showing his opinion, you also have to complain about Immelt. Get it?
November 17, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Ailes is genius at television, no doubt, but some of the things he says are kind of appalling: “[Obama] had to be told by the French and the Germans that his socialism was too far left for them to deal with.” Now this is just ignorant. I mean dumb, unserious, ignorant. “Socialism” has a meaning and Obama’s no socialist. He’s a centrist to conservative Democrat who passed a health care bill that looks a lot like what the Republicans proposed in the 90’s. C’mon man!
And I’m not one of those people who believes that the Fox executives hand down dictates of how the news people report the news. Nah, that’s not how organizations work, usually. There’s an institutional culture, and if the culture of the place is one where it just goes by unchallenged that Obama’s a far-left socialist with a different belief system than most Americans, no wonder the “news” has a pervasive right wing bias on almost every show.
J$, I appreciate your blog but sometimes I wonder what you get out of spending so much time hyping and defending Fox News like they’re an SEC football team or something.
November 17, 2010 at 10:12 pm
J$, I appreciate your blog but sometimes I wonder what you get out of spending so much time hyping and defending Fox News like they’re an SEC football team or something.
Yep. His 100% commitment to them reminds me of crazed Dale Jr. fans in NASCAR who refuse to budge, no matter how many mistakes he makes.
November 18, 2010 at 5:23 am
Regardless of what I may or may not have said in those convos, my intention was never to hype it or make it into some big thing. If it was really that big of a deal, we would have posted it by now. Honestly, it isn’t a big priority for me…. which is why I decided to kill the project in the first place. Johnny is the one who looked the whole thing up and found it, then wanted me to post it. Initially, I wanted to post it just to shut him up, but I’m not running my site to please him.
I haven’t been on Johnny’s site in a while because I’ve been busy. I managed to go on there a few times in the past month, commenting on like one posting, or something. After the whole back and forth with everybody before (including you) regarding my blog, I got sick of being there.
What is there to complain about with Immelt? He barely says anything or gets into any political back and forth stuff (as far as I know). Ailes seems to love being in the spotlight every now and then.
November 18, 2010 at 7:59 am
^ Well, Ailes isn’t involved in a “political back and forth” either. He was interviewed, and answered questions. Can you tell me some other times when he was “in the spotlight?”
If you don’t like Ailes giving his opinion, for whatever reason… you also have to condemn Immelt for providing assistance to the White House (a clear political maneuver).
Anyway… I re-posted our J$ chat over at J$’s site. That way people can stop asking about you. No need to thank me, it was my pleasure. 🙂
November 18, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Ailes was on ABC’s This Week (with Barbara Walters hosting), and he was arguing with Krugman, Huffington, etc., about Fox News, the effects of Beck, and his opinion of the President. He knows he enjoyed that spotlight because he got to bully around a bunch of guests to believe his defense of Beck and what he thinks about Obama.
Actually, Immelt being on Obama’s Economic Advisory Board is totally different, because he has a strong education in Applied Mathematics, and his knowledge about economics was probably very useful for the board. That doesn’t mean he had some direct relationship with Obama or they are working out secret deals, as conspiracy theorists like O’Reilly want to assume.
I appreciate that, but now they won’t be going to my site as much expecting the posting. That probably won’t help my already low visitor rate.
August 25, 2018 at 11:20 pm
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