Roger Ailes

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Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes, June 2013.jpg
BornRoger Eugene Ailes
May 15, 1940 (age 74)
Warren, Ohio
Alma materOhio University, Athens, Ohio.
OccupationPresident of Fox News Channel
Chairman Fox Television Stations Group
Political party
Republican
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Tilson (1998 - )
ChildrenZachary Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes (born May 15, 1940) is president of Fox News Channel, and chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush and for Rudy Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign (1989).

Early life[edit]

Ailes was born and grew up in the factory town of Warren, Ohio, the son of Donna Marie (née Cunningham) and Robert Eugene Ailes, a factory maintenance foreman.[1]Ailes suffers from hemophilia and was often hospitalized as a youth. He attended the Warren city schools, and later was inducted into Warren High School's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.[2] His father was abusive, and his parents divorced in 1960.[3] In 1962, Ailes received a bachelor's degree from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.[4]

Career[edit]

Early television[edit]

Ailes' career in television began in Cleveland and Philadelphia, where he started as Property Assistant (1962), Producer (1965), and Executive Producer (1967–68) for KYW-TV,[5] for a then-locally produced talk-variety show, The Mike Douglas Show. He later became Executive Producer for the show, which was syndicated nationally. In 1968, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for it.[6]
In 1967, Ailes had a spirited discussion about television in politics with one of the show's guests, Richard Nixon, who took the view that television was a gimmick.[7][page needed] Later, Nixon called on Ailes to serve as his Executive Producer for television. Nixon's election victory was Ailes's first venture into the political spotlight. His pioneering work in framing national campaign issues and making the stiff Nixon more likeable and accessible to voters[8][page needed] was later chronicled in The Selling of the President 1968 by Joe McGinniss.[9][page needed]

Political consulting[edit]

In 1987 and 1988, Ailes was credited (along with Lee Atwater) with guiding George H. W. Bush to victory in the Republican primaries and the later come-from-behind[10] victory over Michael Dukakis. Ailes scripted and (with Sig Rogich) produced the "Revolving Door" ad, as well as all of Bush's broadcast spots in the primary and general-election campaigns.[citation needed]
Ailes is credited with the "Orchestra Pit Theory" regarding sensationalist political coverage in the news media, which originated with his quip:
If you have two guys on a stage and one guy says, 'I have a solution to the Middle East problem,' and the other guy falls in the orchestra pit, who do you think is going to be on the evening news?[11]
Ailes's last campaign was the unsuccessful effort of Richard Thornburgh for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in November 1991[citation needed]. He announced his withdrawal from political consulting in 1992.[citation needed]Though he aided with behind-the-scenes speechwriting and coaching for both President and Mrs. Bush at the GOP Convention in Houston, Ailes did not work on the unsuccessful 1992 Bush campaign against Bill Clinton.[citation needed]
Ailes's TV ads for the 1988 Bush campaign were extensively examined in the award-winning documentary film Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.[citation needed]
Days after the 9/11 attacks, Ailes gave President George W. Bush political advice indicating that the American public would be patient as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible.[12] The correspondence was revealed in Bob Woodward's book Bush At War.[page needed] Ailes lashed out against Woodward, saying "Woodward got it all screwed up, as usual," and "The reason he's not as rich as Tom Clancy is that while he and Clancy both make stuff up, Clancy does his research first."[13] Ailes refused to release a copy of the memo he sent to Bush.[14]

Book[edit]

In 1988, Ailes wrote a book with long-time aide Jon Kraushar, called You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators,[15] in which he discusses some of his philosophies and strategies for successful performance in the public eye.

Chairman of Fox Television Stations[edit]

After the departure of Lachlan Murdoch from News Corporation, Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005. Following his newest assignment, one of his first acts was canceling A Current Affair in September 2005 and replacing it with a new Geraldo Rivera show titled Geraldo at Large, which debuted on Halloween, 2005. Rivera's show drew about the same ratings as A Current Affair[16] in January 2007. Ailes decided to cancel Geraldo at Large to move Rivera back on Fox News Channel.
Ailes also hired former CBS executive Dennis Swanson in October 2005 to be president of the Fox Television Stations Group. Additionally, there have been changes in affiliates' news programs with the standardization of Fox News Channel-like graphics, redesigned studios, news-format changes, and the announcement of a new morning television show called The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet to be produced by Fox News Channel.[citation needed]
He signed a new deal in October 2012 that keeps him at the network for another four years through until 2016, at which time he will have served as head of Fox News Channel for twenty years. Salary terms were not revealed although his earnings for the 2012 fiscal year were a reported $21 million inclusive of bonuses. In addition to heading Fox News and chairing Fox Television Stations, Ailes also chairs Twentieth Television,MyNetwork TV and Fox Business Network.[17]

Criticism[edit]

Allegations of anti-semitism[edit]

In January 2011, an open letter printed in the Wall Street Journal on the UN-designated Holocaust Remembrance Day from 400 rabbis, including the leaders of all main branches of Judaism in the US, called on Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, to sanction Fox News commentator Glenn Beck for his use of the Holocaust to "discredit any individual or organization you disagree with."[18] An executive at Fox News rejected the letter, calling it the work of a "George Soros-backed leftwing political organization."[18] Ailes is also said to have once referred to Jewish critics of his as "left-wing rabbis."[19] Also in 2011, Ailes was criticized for referring to executives of the public radio network NPR as "Nazis" for sacking a news analyst, Juan Williams, after Williams had made remarks considered by NPR to be offensive. Ailes apologized to a Jewish group for using the expression, although not to NPR, writing to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL): "“I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR’s willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough... My now considered opinion 'nasty, inflexible bigot' would have worked better.”.[20] The ADL accepted the apology through their National Director, Abraham Foxman, who said in a press release[21] "I welcome Roger Ailes apology, which is as sincere as it is heartfelt. Nazi comparisons of this nature are clearly inappropriate and offensive. While I wish Roger had never invoked that terminology, I appreciate his efforts to immediately reach out and to retract his words before they did any further harm." In a subsequent letter to the Wall Street Journal, Foxman credited both Ailes, and Beck, as "pro-Israel stalwarts."[22]

Personal life[edit]

In July 1997, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Ailes was engaged to Elizabeth Tilson (born December 1960), whom he married on February 14, 1998. Formerly a television executive, she is now a homemakerand titular publisher of The Putnam County News and Recorder.[23] They have one son named Zachary Ailes. They currently live in Garrison, New York on a hilltop parcel in a 9,000-square-foot mansion constructed of Adirondack river stone across the river from West Point military academy.[24]
Ailes is a longtime friend of journalist and media personality Barbara Walters.[25]

Ohio University[edit]

In October 2007, Ailes gave a sizeable donation to Ohio University for a renovated student newsroom.[26] The new facility will double the size of the university's existing newsroom - last upgraded in the 1960s - and allow more students to participate in the school's WOUB radio station and television programs.
Ailes majored in radio and television while at Ohio University and served two years as manager of the school's radio station.[27] Since 1994 he has funded scholarships for Ohio University students in the school's telecommunications programs.[28]
Ailes said, "Ohio University ignited my interest in broadcasting, which became my lifetime career. The education I received there gave me the opportunity to take on my first managerial responsibilities and provided early lessons in leadership. I'm happy to contribute to a great university."[26]

Biography[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

  • "Attorney Style: Charisma in a Court Counts." The National Law Journal (New York), 21 July 1986.
  • "The Importance of Being Likeable." Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York), May 1988.
  • You Are The Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators. (with Jon Kraushar). Homewood, Ill.: Dow Jones-Irwin. 1988. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-87094-976-0.
  • You Are The Message: Getting What You Want by Being Who You Are. (with Jon Kraushar). New York, N.Y.: Doubleday. 1989. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-385-26542-3.
  • "Sam and Diane: Give 'em Time." Advertising Age (New York), 21 August 1989.
  • "How to Make a Good Impression." Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York), September 1989.
  • "A Few Kind Words for Presenter Tip O'Neill." Advertising Age (New York), 8 January 1990.
  • "They Told the Truth...Occasionally." Adweek's Marketing Week (New York), 29 January 1990.
  • "How to Make an Audience Love You." Working Woman (New York), November 1990.
  • "Campaign Strategy." Time (New York), 11 May 1992.
  • "Lighten Up! Stuffed Shirts Have Short Careers." Newsweek (New York), 18 May 1992.

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Current biography yearbook. H.W. Wilson. 1989. p. 14.
  2. Jump up^ "Warren High Schools' Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame". Warren City Schools. Archived from the original on 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  3. Jump up^ Sherman, Gabriel (2014). The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News — And Divided A Country. Random House. p. 560. ISBN 978-0812992854. Retrieved2014-03-23.
  4. Jump up^ "Roger Ailes's BA". museum of Broadcast communications. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  5. Jump up^ "Roger Ailes's First Job". museum of Broadcast communications. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  6. Jump up^ Roger Ailes - Awards, Nominated: Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming - Programs for: "The Mike Douglas Show"
  7. Jump up^ McGinniss, Joe - The Selling of the President 1968, Trident Press/Simon & Schuster, New York - Oct. 6, 1969. ISBN 0-671-27043-5
  8. Jump up^ McGinniss - The Selling of the President 1968.
  9. Jump up^ Simon & Schuster - Oct. 6, 1969. ISBN 0-671-27043-5
  10. Jump up^ "New Polls Show Bush Shaves Dukakis Lead". The New York Times. 1988-06-30. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  11. Jump up^ Bogus, Carl T. (1997-03-17). "The Death of an Honorable Profession". Indiana University Law School. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
  12. Jump up^ Grove, Lloyd. Roger Ailes-Bob Woodward Smackdown? The Washington Post. 19 November 2002.
  13. Jump up^ Fox chief too cozy with White House? CNN. 19 November 2002.
  14. Jump up^ Colford, Paul D. DIDN'T HELP W, AILES SEZ Fox News boss disputes book. Daily News. 19 November 2002.
  15. Jump up^ You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators, ISBN 978-0-87094-976-0
  16. Jump up^ Angwin, Julia (October 3, 2006). "After Riding High With Fox News, Murdoch Aide Has Harder Slog". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved2007-11-15.
  17. Jump up^ "Roger Ailes Signs Deal To Stay At Fox News Through 2016".Forbes. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b Pilkington, Ed (27 January 2011). "Rabbis warn Rupert Murdoch: Fox News and Glenn Beck 'using' Holocaust". The Guardian(London).
  19. Jump up^ Pinkas, Alon (2011-01-27). "US rabbis pen letter criticizing Beck's Holocaust usage". Jpost.com. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  20. Jump up^ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/11/17/fox-news-chief-roger-ailes-blasts-national-public-radio-brass-as-nazis.html
  21. Jump up^ http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/holocaust-nazis/adl-accepts-apology-from-fox.html
  22. Jump up^ Foxman, Abraham H. (1 February 2011). "The Good Rabbis Were Certainly Not Speaking for Us". Letters to the Editor. The Wall Street Journal.
  23. Jump up^ "Pcnr.com". Pcnr.com. 2011-02-02. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  24. Jump up^ Gabriel Sherman (January 8, 2014). "Citizen Ailes". New York (magazine).
  25. Jump up^ Fehrman, Craig (2011-01-21) When Roger Ailes was honest about what he does, Salon.com
  26. ^ Jump up to:a b "Ohio University Outlook". Ohio.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  27. Jump up^ Alumnus Roger Ailes helps fund newsroom, Ohio University Outlook, 2007-10-31
  28. Jump up^ Updated 110 minutes ago 4/6/2011 10:35:22 PM +00:00 (2007-11-01). "Ailes chips in for alma mater's new newsroom - Giving - MSNBC.com". MSNBC. Retrieved 2011-04-07.

External links[edit]

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