I wrote my tribute 10 months ago and posted it at 5 p.m. July 19, 2016. I re-post it so readers can enjoy it.
ORIGINAL POST: Roger Ailes will walk away from the network he created 20 years ago in defiance against the liberal -- some would say communist -- mainstream media. He created an oasis for Americans who wanted all sides of the story, not just the liberal and the moderate, but liberal, moderate, and conservative.
He succeeded. Fox News is not only the No. 1 cable news network -- and has been for 15 years or so -- but the No. 1 cable network. Period. He beat ESPN despite its NBA playoff games. Now Ailes is walking away from the network he founded amid allegations of sexual harassment.
From USA Today:
Fox News broadcaster Megyn Kelly has told investigators hired by 21st Century Fox that her boss, Roger Ailes, has sexually harassed her in the past, and Ailes has now been asked to resign by Aug. 1 or face termination over the recently surfaced allegations about his workplace behavior, according to a report by New York magazine.
Twenty-first Century Fox, the media giant that owns Fox News Channel, declined to comment. Spokespeople for Fox News, the conservative-leaning cable news network founded by Ailes in 1996, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Ailes, who's Fox News' chairman and CEO, was sued on July 6 by former Fox broadcaster Gretchen Carlson, who claimed that her career was sabotaged by Ailes after she refused his sexual advances. He has vigorously denied the allegation, saying her lawsuit is a retaliatory measure for the network's refusal to renew her contract in June. She was let go, Ailes said, due to the low ratings of her show, The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson.Interesting.
Ailes deserves the same presumption of innocence that the Duke lacrosse team deserved, that the University of Virginia chapter of Phi Kappa Psi deserved, and that the boyfriend of mattress girl at Columbia deserved.
We don't know what happened. I doubt we ever will.
But we do know he built a hell of a network. He brought truth to the American people. He built the network's reputation on telling stories the rest of the media ignored because those stories made socialists look bad.
Yes, Fox News disappointed me this year by not balancing the Never Trump choir of former conservatives on its various panel shows. But the world was worse without this brave little network that came to dominate the news. He made news great television without turning it into schlock infortainment.
Murdoch's kids will take the network over and turn it into another heaping, steaming, smelly, revolting pile of liberalism. I predicted this feces follies when the story broke two weeks ago. The heirs are itching for power.
So conservatives had their Camelot on cable news. It was good while it lasted.
Thank you, Roger Ailes. You did your nation a better service than all the other networks.
On November 8, 2016, the American people said, "Trump the Establishment!"
Now read the book that explains how and why the press missed this historic the election.
It is available on Kindle, and in paperback.
And then read the original, "Trump the Press," which chronicled and mocked how the media missed Trump's nomination.
It is available on Kindle, and in paperback
Autographed copies of both books are available by writing me at DonSurber@GMail.com
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Megyn Kelly gives me the creeps
ReplyDeleteMe too. Watching her, I get the same queasy feeling I had from seeing the creature in the original Alien movie.
DeleteMurdoch saved the US for awhile from its corrupt press but I guess no longer. The WSJ hates Trump for irrational reasons so perhaps this represents the growing influence of a younger mindset that will wilfully destroy Fox and it's older demo as Don predicts. A talent like Roger Ailes is as unique as Einstein. Perhaps MSNBC which he started will hire him, as has been suggested by the best NYC media analyst now,Mark Simone. Few people are smart enough to hire someone smarter than them, however.
ReplyDeleteStandard Operating Procedure for corporate assholes. Get someone with enough proximity to the target to make an accusation that can sound plausible enough to make "separation" the most "reasonable" option for "all parties concerned" so that the corporate assholes can get their way without the undesired obstruction in their path who would have to be removed in a more difficult manner. Ailes knows only too well the time and effort it would take to defend himself and he knows that the company (who would supposedly be a codefendant) would undermine his defense at every step while secretly egging on his detractors, all the while pressing for the desired resignation amid assurances that it will all stop if he would only be"reasonable". I'm so glad I quit watching FOX years ago.
ReplyDeleteMegyn Kelly's accusation doesn't pass the smell test with me. Kelly was on the Charlie Rose show last October and was asked about Roger Ailes, and she couldn’t say enough nice things about him. Here’s a short video clip in which she said, “I really care about Roger, and he’s been nothing but good to me.”
ReplyDeleteOff topic but have you considered commenting on the Business Insider story about how Trump could've been stopped by Drudge? I think Drudge gradually came to the same conclusion as the rest of us when the choice came down to him or Cruz. (I'm embarrassed to say so but I don't know if this is covered in your book or not because I haven't read it yet--forgot to bring it with me on vacation.
ReplyDeleteWell, Drudge is in the entertainment business, and Trump is a hell of a lot more entertaining than Cruz.
DeleteAnd a better person, as things turn out.
DeleteIt looks like Ailes isn't out yet.
ReplyDeleteA Financial Times piece says several big names (O'Really, Hannity, Greta, maybe more) have in their contracts if Ailes goes, they go.
Team up with InfoWars or Breitbart and let's get the partay started again. Meanwhile, Megyn Kelly will wind up on Pornhub. You heard it here first, people...
ReplyDeleteKelly is taking a page from the playbook of Erdogan and purging (or getting purged) all of her competition at Fox. Way to go babe. You and your 5-head haircut will be the last talent standing at Fox.
DeleteIt's a pity; Fox will rapidly turn into just another cable channel, no different than any of the other cable channels, so there won't be any offset to the constant drumbeat of the lefties.
ReplyDeleteOnly recently I discovered that when someone has a cable "package" it distributes money to all the cable channels, so the ratings are only icing on the cake; a cable channel can be absolutely rancid, but they'll still get their dough. So much for voting with your feet, the only thing to do is stop getting cable at all. Which I've done, but that's a bridge too far for most folks, and I don't blame them for wanting entertainment.
I only ever watch clips from Hannity, Greta, and Judge Jeanine these days; I agree with Don that the liberal sons are champing at the bit to "change" Fox News to something more palatable to them. R.A. Heinlein used to say, "They like the flavor better once they've pissed in it."
Just in case you didn't listen to Rush's eulogy on Roger Ailes today here is the story at RushLimbaugh.com. Ailes was the reason radio talk went to the top of the charts ... with a little help from a grateful entertainer.
ReplyDeleteFox will be getting schlonged in the ratings war.
ReplyDeleteYup, Schlongy, they already are. Can't beat Rachel MadCow? For shame...
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