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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 19 May 2017
Fox News founder Roger Ailes died of complications from fall

FRAZIER MOORE “He will be remembered by and bombastic, he was
AP Television Writer the many people on both renowned for never giving
NEW YORK (AP) — Roger sides of the camera that he in, for being ever confron-
Ailes, the communications discovered, nurtured and tational with a chip on his
maestro who transformed promoted,” Murdoch said. shoulder and a blistering
television news and Amer- “Roger and I shared a big outburst at the ready.
ica’s political conversation idea which he executed in When he founded Fox
by creating and ruling Fox a way no one else could News Network, Ailes’ stat-
News Channel for two de- have. In addition, Roger ed mission was to correct
cades before being ousted was a great patriot who for the sins of a media uni-
last year for alleged sexual never ceased fighting for verse that was overwhelm-
harassment, died Thursday, his beliefs.” ingly liberal. Pledging fair-
according to his wife, Eliza- Former House Speaker ness from his employees
beth Ailes. He was 77. Newt Gingrich recalled shortly before the network
Ailes died after a fall at his Ailes’ influence on the na- launched, he was typically
Palm Beach home on May tion’s politics from the late tough talking: “Will they hit
10 caused bleeding on 1960s to now. it every time? Hell, no. Will
the brain, the Palm Beach “Roger Ailes was a genius they try? Hell, yes. Will we
County Medical Examiner’s at politics and the news be criticized? Hell, yes. Do
Office said. Ailes fell in his media. His advice to Presi- I care? Hell, no.”
bathroom, hit his head and dents Nixon and Reagan In this Feb. 9, 2015, file photo, Roger Ailes attends a special As usual, he had defined
was bleeding profusely. He was historic and helped screening of “Kingsman: The Secret Service” in New York. the enemy (in this case,
was taken to a hospital by elect both,” Gingrich Associated Press his media critics and oth-
attending paramedics, the tweeted. the widening scandal. De- would have sex with him. er presumed foes) before
Palm Beach (Florida) Police “The history of cable tele- spite Ailes’ staunch denials, Before Carlson’s bombshell they could define them-
Department said. vision will have a very big 21st Century Fox corporate legal action, Fox’s roar- selves. It was his crowning
A former GOP operative chapter on Roger Ailes. head Rupert Murdoch and ing success and enormous principle.
to candidates including Without his success at Fox his sons, James and Lach- earnings (with some esti- This attack-dog style
Richard Nixon, Ronald News Trump could never lan, determined that Ailes mates that it accounted served him well when, at
Reagan and George H.W. have won.” had to go. The announce- for nearly a quarter of the 27, Ailes wrangled a job
Bush and a one-time ad- Others laid the nation’s ment was made on July 21. parent company’s profits) with Nixon, then vying for a
viser to President Donald political dysfunction and The allegations went be- insulated Ailes from any political comeback in the
Trump, Ailes displayed a inability to find common yond just Ailes: In April, suspicion as well as from 1968 presidential race.
mastery of modern mes- ground at his feet, creating reports that the network his past scrapes with the “Mr. Nixon, you need a
saging early in his career. the atmosphere for Trump had settled lawsuits with Murdoch sons over who he media adviser,” Ailes de-
Then he changed the face to succeed. five women who alleged would report to. clared (according to Sher-
of 24-hour news when, in “It’s a very complicated man’s biography).
1996, he accepted a chal- story,” said Gabriel Sher- “What’s a media adviser?”
lenge from media titan man, author of the Ailes asked Nixon.
Rupert Murdoch to build a biography, “The Loudest “I am,” replied Ailes, hav-
news network from scratch Voice in the Room.” ‘’He is ing fashioned the job on
to compete with CNN in some ways a genius and the spot.
and other TV outlets they in some ways tragic. His Nixon, whose run for the
deemed left-leaning. quest for power consumed White House had been
That October, Ailes flipped him.” dealt a blow eight years
the switch on Fox News By mid-2016 Ailes still ruled earlier in a televised de-
Channel, which within a supreme as he prepared to bate against his camera-
few years became the celebrate Fox News’ 20th ready rival John F. Ken-
audience leader in cable anniversary. nedy, was a challenge
news. Ailes branded the But in little more than two Ailes eagerly accepted
network “Fair and Bal- weeks, both his legacy and at a moment when, as he
anced” and declared he job unraveled following al- In this Aug. 17, 1988 file photo, Vice President George H.W. Bush, realized better than most,
had left the political world legations by a former an- left, gets some advice from his media advisor, Roger Ailes, right, TV could make or break
behind, but conservative chor that he had forced as they stand behind the podium at the Superdome in New Or- a candidate. Concluding
leans, La., prior to the start of the Republican National Conven-
viewers found a home and her out of Fox News after tion. Fox News said on Thursday, May 18, 2017, that Ailes has that viewers would never
lifted prime-time commen- she spurned his sexual ad- died. He was 77. warm to Nixon, nor would
tators Bill O’Reilly and Sean vances. The lawsuit filed on Associated Press the media establishment,
Hannity to the top of the July 6 by Gretchen Carlson Ailes struck a winning for-
news ratings. quickly triggered accounts mula by packaging him
“He has dramatically and from more than 20 women sexual harassment against His dismissal was a head- in comfortably staged TV
forever changed the po- with similar stories of al- network star Bill O’Reilly led spinning downfall and a town-hall meetings as a
litical and the media land- leged harassment by Ailes to his firing. Three other ex- breathtaking defeat for man whose intelligence
scape singlehandedly for either against themselves ecutives also lost their jobs. Ailes, a man who all his life the audience would re-
the better,” Hannity tweet- or someone they knew. Rumors of sexual impropri- seemed to be spoiling for a spect.
ed on Thursday. Reportedly, a key witness eties at Fox News and by fight and was used to win- The remainder of Ailes’ ca-
Fox News and 21st Century was Megyn Kelly, the net- Ailes in particular weren’t ning them. reer would draw on various
Fox executive chairman work’s superstar personal- new. Sherman’s 2014 biog- Ailes was a brawler. And blends of showmanship,
Rupert Murdoch called ity, whose voice was con- raphy reported numerous even when he was on the ruthless politics and an un-
Ailes “a brilliant broadcast- spicuously missing in the unflattering anecdotes, winning side of a battle, matched skill for recogniz-
er (who) played a huge chorus of women and men including an allegation he positioned himself as ing TV’s raw communica-
role in shaping America’s at Fox News who spoke up (denied by Ailes) that he the defiant outsider going tion power before his op-
media over the last thirty on behalf of Ailes. Their de- offered one female em- toe-to-toe with his bullying ponents did, and harness-
years” in a statement. fense did little to staunch ployee extra money if she nemeses. Brash, heavyset ing it better.q