Roger Ailes

Salon's Vincent Rossmeier has an interview with Kerwin Swint, biographer of Fox news Godfather Roger Ailes. Mr. Swint, a Professor of Political Science Kennesaw State University, says he "couldn't believe that no one had written a book on him yet. He's been such a central figure for so long."

In 2003, The New Yorker's Ken Auletta described Mr. Ailes as "a man of Falstaffian girth... Ailes is sixty-three and does not look immediately fearsome. He says he is five feet nine inches tall and weighs two hundred and twenty-five pounds; his jowls droop over his collar. With his pallor and barely perceptible eyebrows, Ailes looks like someone who has spent a lifetime under fluorescent lights.  read more »

Recently, Shepard Smith stood in his office at Fox News and gestured at a football, on his bookshelf, signed by Giants quarterback and fellow University of Mississippi alumnus Eli Manning.

“I’ve met him a number of times,” said Mr. Smith. “He’s a private guy. He’s likes to stay to himself. Eli, as a friend, would be weird. I like him being my quarterback.”

It was Friday afternoon and Mr. Smith—the host of Fox News’ Studio B, anchor of the The Fox Report, and possibly the highest-paid on-air talent in cable news history—was giving NYTV a tour of his office. Ole Miss madness was the decorative theme. A Rebels welcome mat warmed the entrance. Commemorative Ole Miss coins sat alongside bowl-game souvenirs. A framed photograph of Mr. Smith and his younger brother, pregaming under the oak trees on the Ole Miss campus, hung on the wall.  read more »

How did this go unnoticed for so long?

In Kurt Andersen's New York magazine column, published Monday, he casually spills the beans on Roger Ailes' preferred method of press control. Mr. Andersen writes that the Fox News chief "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."

Thanks to Gawker for reading to the end.

Fox News' Shepard Smith -- who has offended some of the channel's conservative viewers by accepting that global warming exists, and expressing compassion for victims of Hurricane Katrina, among other apostasies -- has signed a new contract worth $7 million to $8 million a year, according to The Times. 

Roger Ailes calls Mr. Smith his "go-to guy" whenever big news breaks.  read more »

Is Mitt Romney deliberately trying to make an enemy out of Roger Ailes?

First, his campaign says it will defy a cease-and-desist letter from Fox ordering it to stop using footage from a Fox debate in its campaign commericals. Now comes the news that Mr. Romney won't participate in a planned GOP debate on Fox in Iowa, effectively killing the event.

Sure, everyone seems to think that Fox is in the tank for Giuliani. But it's strange that the Romney campaign seems to want to encourage the alliance.

On Wednesday night, a little after 7 pm, deep in the labyrinth that is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, past the line of photographers in the lobby, past the medieval statues of the Virgin Mary, past a mummy or two, and past a temporary installation that spelled out "Fox Business" in big block letters made, ostensibly, of green shrubbery, Regis Philbin gave Roger Ailes a hug.

"This guy is famous in Ohio," said Mr. Philbin, oddly.

NYTV moved in and shook hands.

Mr. Ailes asked good-naturedly if NYTV had written anything critical of Fox or Mr. Philbin, recently. Mr. Philbin fielded the question. "He writes something critical of me," said Mr. Philbin, "at least once a month." An exaggeration!

Everyone smiled.

We were there to celebrate the launch of Rupert Murdoch's latest media venture—the Fox Business Network...
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CNBC's Donnie Deutsch--who recently told The Observer that Fox Business "will go after me like they go after everyone"--had more to say today about his new rival.

"He's throwing grenades, and I'm a warrior so I respect that," Mr Deutsch told Portfolio.com's Lloyd Grove in an interview today, referring to Fox News president Roger Ailes. "Nobody's curing cancer here, and so people are going take off the gloves and want to knock dukes. That's fucking America, man! That's what this country is, so to me, I'll pick a guy like Roger Ailes any day of the week."

Mr. Ailes, however, may not feel the same way about Mr. Deutsch. He recently told the Columbus Dispatch, "I'm not sure if Donny Deutsch is really the answer for them, even though he announces he is. I'm not sure it's anything more than a very expensive way to meet girls for him."  read more »

It soon became clear that riling up competitor CNBC was a minor, albeit festive indulgence in the Fox Business Network workday. "Big Government" is the common enemy here, and they'll talk about it all day long.  read more »