NYT ed: The Fox News Presidential Adviser
The New York Times ^ | 11/21/2002 | editorial board
Posted on 11/20/2002 9:12 PM PST by Pokey78
Politicos who morph into journalists do themselves and their new profession no favor if they fail to shed their partisan habits. Roger Ailes, the vinegary chairman of Fox News, shows no sign of understanding that. Not long after Sept. 11, we learn from Bob Woodward's new book, "Bush at War," Mr. Ailes advised President Bush how to cope with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. That would be fine, were Mr. Ailes still in the business of advising political candidates, but as a top executive of a news organization he should know better than to offer private counsel to Mr. Bush.
Mr. Ailes's action seems especially hypocritical for someone who has spent years trumpeting the fairness of Fox and the partisanship of just about everybody else in the news business. Fox's promotional slogan is: "We report. You decide." But the news channel has a Republican tilt and a conservative agenda.
Mr. Ailes, a former Republican strategist who helped the president's father win the White House in 1988, has argued that his missive contained not political counseling but personal advice about presidential policies. The difference hardly matters in the world of journalism.