Fox News' Roger Ailes: "Tone it Down"

CBS ^ | 1/10/11 | Stephanie Condon

[pissant]

In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tuscon, Ariz. that left six dead and 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Fox News President Roger Ailes is saying that his network and others in politics and the media need to "tone it down."

In an interview with Russell Simmons, published today by Simmons' website Global Grind, Ailes addressed the tragedy and the partisan rhetoric some say is to blame for the incident.

Ailes to some extent defended Sarah Palin's use of crosshairs imagery during the 2010 campaign, arguing that such rhetoric was not uncommon in politics. Palin has come under criticism in the wake of the shooting for having created a "target list" of lawmakers she hoped to unseat, including Giffords. Palin released a map featuring the 20 targeted House Democrats that used crosshairs to show their districts.

(snip)

But Ailes called the use of such imagery "bulls**t" and said "both sides are wrong, but they both do it."

"I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually," the Fox News president said. "You don't have to do it with bombast. I hope the other side does that."

[malkee]

I really hope anchors aren’t still using those stupid foot pedals to operate the teleprompters. Thankfully, I never had to do that and I doubt Bill O’Reilly operates his own teleprompter. I worked mostly in medium markets about 20 years ago.

[Colonel_Flagg]

I’m sure they are in the small markets. I worked in a major market early in my career and then small after that.