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journalismism
Fox News Chief Buys Newspaper
Fox News chairman Roger Ailes bought his very first newspaper! It's a tiny paper, upstate, and was a gift to his his third wife, or at least that's the cover story. The wife, Elizabeth Ailes, is a former NBC News executive and big supporter of George W. Bush who told the Times (the Times? go figure) the "quaint paper" will "probably stay the same." In other words, the staff is already learning how to work Keith Olbermann insults into virtually any story, and reporters for competing community papers should start burning their garbage. [Times]
feuds
Fox News Finds Julia Allison 'Sad'
Earlier this week, Fox News began sprinkling helpful exclusives on its erstwhile enemies at the Times in an ostensible bid to atone for past smears. But the favors may also be part of a divide-and-conquer strategy to prevent the formation of an anti-Fox "posse," to use columnist David Carr's memorable phrasing. And so, perhaps, it is with Julia Allison, the shamelessly self-advancing internet fameball who so many in the New York media bubble love to hate. Why has Fox stooped — famewise, mind you — to picking a fight with Allison, telling the Daily News today that her comments against the network's vicious flack Irena Briganti are "yet another sad, relentless attempt at relevancy?" Maybe because the "rep" quoted by the News is actually Briganti herself, unable to resist swiping at someone with far less power than the Times. Or maybe the network is deploying its divide-and-conquer strategy to a much larger group of detractors than reporters at one newspaper — people who hate Julia Allison.
finance
The Jinx Of Roger Ailes
Hold for a second the vitriol that Roger Ailes usually inspires. The Fox News boss is worth watching—not so much for his abuse-inviting impersonation of a corpulent former Nixonite but as a financial indicator of a market top. The cable news network Ailes started for Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch—though a remarkable ratings success—marked the high-water-mark of the Republican ascendancy. A month after the launch of Fox News in October 1996, Bill Clinton came back from the political dead and ascendant Congressional Republicans under Newt Gingrich suffered their first big reverse. So is there an Ailes jinx? Well, take a look at the stock market. Ailes' Fox Business News was supposed to be a news channel with less of the gloom and doom of competitors such as CNBC. Since the start of broadcasting in October last year—right at the peak of the market—the S&P stockmarket index is down more than 15% (click to enlarge graph). If Ailes threatens to launch any new channels, sell!
From the archives
Roger Ailes' History Of Media Manipulation
Fox bossman Roger Ailes is the best teacher any media attack flack could have. He's been screwing with the media for decades. Ailes is the man who perfected the art of hammering the media with charges of bias in order to deflect negative coverage from oneself. Kerwin Swint's new biography of him, Dark Genius, has plenty of examples from throughout his entire career. And you have to hand it to Ailes: his clients—all the way up to the President—got the best media haranguing tactics money can buy: More »
Field guide
Irena Briganti, The Most Vindictive Flack In The Media World
So, David Carr has gone and pulled the curtain back a bit on Fox PR—the single most vicious PR operation in all the media. Good for him. So let's do our part by zeroing in on the one flack who is the face of Fox's feared, vengeful media relations operation. Her name is Irena Briganti. She's the female alter ego and mouthpiece of Fox boss Roger Ailes (pictured). She's been described as bubbly and charming in person. But she's the one holding the bloody hatchet that Fox regularly brings down right on reporters' heads. Here's everything you need to know about the scariest flack in mediadom: More »
feuds
The Post's efforts to slam Keith Olbermann are getting increasingly desperate. In its latest attempt to lash the MSNBC personality on behalf of owner Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. comrade-in-arms Bill O'Reilly, who are in a feud with the Countdown host, the tabloid somehow managed to work an Olbermann dig into a story about bad gym behavior. Well, actually, not into the copy of the story itself, but into the accompanying infographic, pictured above. It's an awkward enough dig to make one miss Olbermann's Rupert-Murdoch-as-a-pirate imitation. [Post]
Post Attacks Olbermann Via Infographic
The Post's efforts to slam Keith Olbermann are getting increasingly desperate. In its latest attempt to lash the MSNBC personality on behalf of owner Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. comrade-in-arms Bill O'Reilly, who are in a feud with the Countdown host, the tabloid somehow managed to work an Olbermann dig into a story about bad gym behavior. Well, actually, not into the copy of the story itself, but into the accompanying infographic, pictured above. It's an awkward enough dig to make one miss Olbermann's Rupert-Murdoch-as-a-pirate imitation. [Post]
feuds
Keith Olbermann's Rupert Murdoch Imitation Involves Gawker, Pirates
Looking for a decent excuse to advance his long-simmering feud with Rupert Murdoch and to do a weird Australian/pirate accent, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann seized upon the words of a former News Corp. insider, who claimed in one of our posts this morning that Murdoch fired Jane Friedman from HarperCollins because she canned powerhouse publisher Judith Regan in late 2006, and also because she squashed Regan's OJ Simpson book project. The source also claimed, tangentially and outlandishly, that Fox News chief Roger Ailes will soon be fired as well for his own role in the Simpson book fiasco. Predictably, this amused Olbermann to no end. For the crime of going to bat for the OJ book, Olbermann named Murdoch today's "worst person in the world," an honor previously bestowed to Fox News screamer Bill O'Reilly. He then did a killer Murdoch imitation that will surely put to rest those allegations that he's totally crazy. Clip after the jump. More »
liberal academia
Roger Ailes Buys Self Room at School
Roger Ailes, who invented and perfected post-modern mass propagandizing through his work with noted hero of the free press Richard Nixon, and who then went on to invent Fox News, a creation of pure anti-journalism, will infect untold future generations of television producers with his grossly distorted view of the gullibility of the American sucker-electorate. 'Cuz Ohio University just unveiled the The Roger E. Ailes Newsroom at their Radio-Television Communication Building, made possible by a "generous contribution" from you-know-who. The video of school officials feting Ailes and his money mentions his work "media consulting for presidents" but oddly won't name which ones. This after a couple minutes spent reminding us that Ailes was once a prop wrangler for Mike Douglas. But no Willie Horton! Anyway, Ailes' gross Penguin-esque mug is now enshrined forever on a hideous plaque in Athens, Ohio. [TVNewser]
spoofs
Spy Footage Of Murdoch's Tirade
For a spoof, this video of the Australian media mogul in full tantrum is incredibly slick. Rupert Murdoch, enraged by a tabloid parody of his Wall Street Journal, demands News Corporation executives have every copy burnt. In the best line, the News Corp boss thinks to bring in Roger Ailes, his lieutentant at Fox News. "We need to get Roger on this. He's a sadistic shit. He'll take care of it." But here's the mystery: who would go to the trouble of creating a video that will go viral in the media towers of Sixth Avenue, and no further? More »
cable news
Fox News Not Hesitant To Fire Fox News Critics
On Friday, Fox News boss Roger Ailes reminded employees in a memo that "there are no locks on the doors." Now the network has proven the point, by helping two find their way out. Eric Burns, the moderator of "Fox News Watch," the media critic roundtable show mandatory to all cable news networks, along with liberal panelist Neal Gabler, who was known for criticizing his employer, have both been let go. Gabler moaned about Fox's lack of promotion for the show, but the network called sour grapes. They did not, however, "wish him well." [NYT]. After the jump, classic footage of Burns&Co. discussing the Larry Craig scandal; sadly, you won't ever get to see this happen live. More »
roger ailes
"We live in America"
You've got to love the consistency of message. Even when Roger Ailes complains about "selfish complaining" and "petty whining" at his cable network, Fox News, the Murdoch henchman manages to work in a patriotic theme. From a memo leaked to TV Newser: "We make a decent living. Many of us are quite comfortable. Some of us are famous. We work for a great company. We contribute to the most exciting profession in the world and we live in America. If that is not enough, you should note that there are no locks on the outside of the doors keeping us here."
update
Judith Regan Wins Her Slanging Match
The virtues of going quietly are much overstated. Book publisher Judith Regan, an incredibly aggressive executive in an incredibly passive industry, was offered $6m after being fired by her employer, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. After she threatened to expose a call from a Murdoch henchman — urging her not to testify against her former lover, Bernie Kerik — the terms improved. Maybe she could have gotten a better deal if Kerik still had the potential to embarrass the former Republican front-runner, Rudy Giuliani. Even so, the rumored $20m-$25m payoff in today's settlement is a nice improvement over Murdoch's initial offer. (Update: Another source says more like $10m, though definitions may vary.) Even after legal fees, and a slanging match (anti-semite! Giu-lovers!) with some of the dirtiest players in politics and media. If anyone could out-slang Roger Ailes, the former Nixon aide who built up Fox News for Murdoch, it's Judith Regan.
fox business news
Roger Ailes Succeeds Even When He Fails
Eric Starkman, of PR agency Starkman & Associates, argues that Fox Business News is not a complete disaster. One show, in particular, is so dreadful that it makes compelling viewing. So, again, Roger Ailes is a genius! Even when he's not. More »
susan estrich
The Art Of The 'To' Line
People, use the bcc field of an email window so recipients can't see everybody else's address. Unless, like Susan Estrich, one of Fox News' token liberal commentators, you need to display connections. She just sent out a personal press release to about 200 friends, TV pundits, celebrities, and neglected to hide their email addresses. Ah, I get it now: this is the old people's version of a showy friends list on Facebook. Sycophantic touch, by the way, putting Roger Ailes, her boss at Fox News, at the top of the list. Does Estrich have any idea of the contempt with which the former Nixon aide regards those crippled liberals he puts up to debate to their death the cable news network's right-wing gladiators?
roger ailes
The Most Vindictive Man In Media
It's not exactly news that Roger Ailes, News Corporation's brilliant but amoral Goebbels, is vindictive. Kurt Andersen mentioned, almost casually, that the Fox News founder had threatened to trail his 3 and 5-year-old kids in pre-emptive retaliation for an article the New York Magazine columnist was writing. But Dan Cooper, a colleague of Ailes during the early days of Fox News, has had even more lurid encounters with the irascible TV newsman, now posted to a personal blog. More »
roger ailes
Murdoch's human sacrifice
6,000 weekday viewers: now that's embarrassing. Somebody has to carry the can for the disastrous launch of Fox Business News, the News Corporation's cable channel. But not Roger Ailes, that's for sure. The Murdoch henchman's reputation as a media genius — built on the destruction of the Dukakis campaign and CNN's dominance of round-the-clock news — is too well cemented. What's the betting that Roger Ailes, an adept corporate infighter, will offer up sidekick Kevin McGee instead to assuage the wrath of Murdoch?
The 'full disclosure of the week' this week comes from multitasker Kurt Andersen's 'Imperial City' column in New York mag: "I want to see Giuliani's presidential campaign harmed; don't you? (And I'll relish even more any exposure of [Fox News founder Roger] Ailes, who—full disclosure—once threatened to send a camera crew to stalk my 3- and 5-year-old children in preemptive retaliation for a magazine story I was writing about his man Rush Limbaugh.)" [NY]
