FOX NEWS' AILES GETS AULETTA-TREATMENT; NET MADE '$70 MILLION IN PROFIT'

Drudge Report ^ | May 18, 2003 | Matt Drudge

[Timesink]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN MAY 18, 2003 10:04:59 ET XXXXX

FOX NEWS AILES GETS AULETTA-TREATMENT; NET MADE '$70 MILLION IN PROFIT'

NEW YORKER's Ken Auletta debuts his essay on FOXNEWS chairman and C.E.O. Roger Ailes Monday in May 26 editions, hitting newsstands Monday.

Details: "Cable is an edge business," Ailes explains. NBC's "Brian Williams has no edge, so he sits there and mumbles in his nice shirts and can't get through."

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Of NBC's Chris Matthews, "If Chris Matthews worked for me, he'd be doing better....I wouldn't let him answer everybody's question for them. He asks the question. Then he answers it. Then he asks you what you think of his answer. Then he goes on to another question. At some point, he's got to let the guest answer. I'd say, 'Chris, if you don't shut the fuck up I'm going to fire you!'"

Ailes also tells Auletta how things would be different now for his former client Richard Nixon, for whom Ailes was the chief television adviser during the 1968 election. "I felt sort of sorry for him. He was socially uncomfortable. In today's climate, he would be allowed to go on OPRAH and plead that he was an abused child. And the liberals would have to love him!"

Ailes says that he expects journalists to be "watchdogs, not attack dogs" and that his network is a necessary corrective to the pieties of other networks. "I think the mainstream media thinks liberalism is the center of the road. I really think that they don't understand that there are serious people in America who don't necessarily agree with everything they hear on the Upper East Side of Manhattan."

Ailes says he doesn't like "élite" journalists with "a pick up their ass" who treat journalism as "a from-the-Mount profession."

After immersing himself in FOXNEWS for four months, Auletta claims numerous instances of anchors and correspondents tipping to the right.

"FOX NEWS," he writes, "became a magnet for conservatives much as Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite station, did for its more than thirty million Arab viewers."

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Dan Rather, of CBS, tells Auletta that he thinks FOXNEWS is a direct reflection of owner Rupert Murdoch's political views. "Mr. Murdoch has a business, a huge worldwide conglomeratebusiness," Rather says. "He finds it to his benefit to have media outlets, press outlets, that serve his business interests. There's nothing wrong with this. It's a free country. It's not an indictable offense. But by any clear analysis the bias is towards his own personal, political, partisan agenda...primarily because it fits his commercial interests."

Last year, Auletta reports, FOXNEWS made seventy million dollars of profits on three hundred and twenty-five million dollars in revenue, according to a senior FOX executive. Profits are expected to double this year.

Bill O'Reilly, whose nightly broadcast is the most popular show on any cable news network, credits Ailes with leading the way: "Roger Ailes is the general, and the general sets the tone of the army. Our army is very George Pattonesque. We charge. We roll."

Impacting....

[maica]

But by any clear analysis the bias is towards his own personal, political, partisan agenda...primarily because it fits his commercial interests."

I think this logic is flawed. I would believe that Rupert Murdock tilts conservative if I heard him say so or saw him hang out with elected Republicans. It seems that the people on the left just assume that he is conservative. I think he just is competitive and interested in creating a bigger media empire.

As a businessman he could have just seen that there was a void in the presentation of news that was NOT tilted left.

I find it hard to believe that a true conservative would allow a large proportion of the trashy shows that Fox network shows. Isn't Monica Lewinsky's show on Fox?

[BluH2o]

At some point one would think the liberal alphabet networks would begin to get the message ... Americans are fed up with their liberal elitist left wing dribel. FOX is a refreshing change, Fair & Balanced ... which to the liberals means conservative. As long as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and their off shoots, like CNBC, etc., continue with the liberal agenda format ... FOX will kick their butt.

[Timesink]

"Mr. Murdoch has a business, a huge worldwide conglomeratebusiness," Rather says.

I think this logic is flawed.

I think Dan is flat out lying....

"Mr. Murdoch has a business, a huge worldwide conglomeratebusiness," Rather says.

Unlike, say, Viacom, Mr. Rather? Which owns CBS, by far the most liberal TV news operation? Which owns MTV, a network that tries to force liberal political indoctrination down its teenage viewers' throats? Which owns VH1 and CMT, which edit out the boos audiences give to Hillary Clinton and the Dixie Chicks and replace them with cheers?

Utter hypocricy.

[Cicero]

You took the words right out of my mouth. CBS isn't a business? ABC/Disney isn't a business? NBC / General Electric isn't a business? MSNBC isn't a business? Bill clinton and algore didn't get monster donations from greedy businessmen?

And speaking of businessmen, how much does Dan Rather get paid?

[Cicero]

You took the words right out of my mouth. CBS isn't a business? ABC/Disney isn't a business? NBC / General Electric isn't a business? MSNBC isn't a business? Bill clinton and algore didn't get monster donations from greedy businessmen?

And speaking of business, how much does Dan Rather get paid?

[Pubbie]

"I'd say, 'Chris, if you don't shut the fuck up I'm going to fire you!'"

Hahahaha :)

[Pubbie]

"Which owns CBS, by far the most liberal TV news operation? "

Whoa, I know that CBS is bad, however I think it's very clear that the worst offender is that Filthy Whore Of Babylon, MICHAEL EISNER!

[Jeff Chandler]

>>FOXNEWS made seventy million dollars of profits on three hundred and twenty-five million dollars in revenue<<

Sweet.

[nwrep]

I find it hard to believe that a true conservative would allow a large proportion of the trashy shows that Fox network shows.

Here are campaign contributions by Murdoch's News Corp. You tell me if the are biased or not:

Results: Individual Donors Search

9 records found in .05 seconds. SEARCH CRITERIA: Donor name: News Corporation Election cycle(s): 2002 2000 Start another search

Sort by Name Sort by Date Sort by Amount

Contributor	Occupation	Date	Amount	Recipient
NEWS CORPORATION BEVERLY HILLS, CA 90213		4/9/1999	$25,000	RNC/Repub National State Elections Cmte
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001		12/3/2001	$1,081	NRCC/Non-Federal
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001		12/3/2001	$1,081	NRCC/Non-Federal
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001		12/3/2001	$1,081	NRCC/Non-Federal
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001	N/A	5/28/2002	$1,200	DCCC/Non-Federal Account 1
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001	N/A	11/4/2001	$1,281	DCCC/Non-Federal Account 1
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001		8/21/2002	$1,600	NRCC/Non-Federal
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001	INFO REQUESTED	8/21/2002	$1,600	NRCC/Non-Federal
NEWS CORPORATION WASHINGTON, DC 20001		1/30/2000	$2,275	NRCC/Expenditures Non-Federal

2002 cycle data downloaded from FEC on April 28, 2003. Date of request: May 18, 2003

[Timesink]

Whoa, I know that CBS is bad, however I think it's very clear that the worst offender is that Filthy Whore Of Babylon, MICHAEL EISNER.

I worked at ABC. They're elitists, but they're not wild socialists. The Old Fart Guard of CBS - the Rathers, the 60 Minutes Octogenarians, the Heywards, the Cronkites - they are hard left.

[maica]

What do those numbers say? That Newscorp is a cheapskate? Or that it never gives a penny to the Democrat party? What database are you using?

[Katya]

Murdoch personally endorsed Gore for the 2000 election....a fact which is conveniently forgotten.

[Pubbie]

Unfortunately Viacom isn't a wreck financially the way Disney will be in a couple of years.

[Sonny M]

He's actually libertarian politically, and alot of conservative, especially social conservatives, who he "empowers" have no problem taking shots at him. Brent Bozelle does some work occasionaly for Fox News, yet he has blasted, the Fox networks and Rupert Murdoch specifically for some of there programs. Not exactley serving your own interests there.

[Timesink]

Unfortunately Viacom isn't a wreck financially the way Disney will be in a couple of years.

I take great happiness in the fact that Disney stock is worth less than half of what it was three years ago and is moving nowhere fast.

[Sonny M]

You would think with Murdoch's money, he would donate a hell of alot more. That being said, alot of the people he would supposedly support to tend to go after him hard. His Fox networks, except for FOX news, have been the targets of several well known high profile boycotts by conservative groups. Brent Bozelle, who also at times does work for fox news, has ripped into him on numerious occasions and has urged boycotts. If Murdoch has a leash, he sure as hell doesn't use it.

[Sonny M]

could you blame him? There's no better news then bad news when you want ratings.

[demkicker]

"Of NBC's Chris Matthews, "If Chris Matthews worked for me, he'd be doing better....I wouldn't let him answer everybody's question for them. He asks the question. Then he answers it. Then he asks you what you think of his answer. Then he goes on to another question. At some point, he's got to let the guest answer. I'd say, 'Chris, if you don't shut the f*ck up I'm going to fire you!'"

This cracked me up and is dead on accurate!

[Timesink]

This cracked me up and is dead on accurate!

It's a funny line, but Matthews' ratings problems aren't because he talks too much; it's because he's on MSNBC, a channel nobody watches. When he was simulcast on CNBC, his ratings were much higher, and his Sunday talk show is already beating Fox News Sunday, Face the Nation and This Week. If Matthews moved to Fox and did the exact same show, he'd probably be pulling O'Reilly-level numbers.