It has emerged that the American television executive who helped to establish the Fox News Channel, Roger Eugene Ailes, spent millions of dollars making sure that the reputation of journalists who criticize him are tainted during his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the news organization.
In July 2016, Mr Ailes resigned as the CEO of Fox News over sexual harassment allegations leveled against him. In the past, he worked as a media consultant for the Republican Party, before joining the Australian-American media mogul, Rupert Murdoch to create Fox News.
Can you even imagine what the coverage would be like on Fox if one of their competitors did what Roger Ailes did? Every hour, every show.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) August 7, 2016
Apart from the sexual allegations that the Former CEO is facing, it has emerged again that he spent millions of dollars belonging to Mr Murdoch to set up a ‘Black Room’, running down the reputation of his perceived enemies. It is said the majority of these so-called perceived enemies of Ailes were journalists who used to criticize him.
Under the leadership of Ailes, Fox news used majority of its $1 billion profits to settle lawsuits brought by its own employees.
The New York Magazine reports that since Ailes stepped aside from the news organization, internal investigation has revealed that he used his budget to target journalists reporting negatively about him.
so @gabrielsherman has confirmed that roger ailes spent news corp $ surveiling him, me, and @hamiltonnolan https://t.co/GWIDQQ9ub6
— John Cook (@johnjcook) August 7, 2016
Ailes’ mission, to ruin the reputation of his critics, is said to have been carefully planned at the 14th floor of the News Corporation building in New York City. Those who worked on the image denting campaign for Ailes confessed that he labeled it ‘Black Room.’ Ailes is said to have hired private detectives, consultants, and political operatives assigning them a mission to track his perceived enemies.
These undercover people, acting on the instructions of Ailes’ built files on the journalists, leaking dirt to blogs in the hopes of denting the reputations of those critical of their boss. It is said this secret dirty operation by Ailes started in 2011.
Roger Ailes used Fox News resources to target enemies wonder where man who worked for Nixon learned such tactics…https://t.co/zyUrV8U7Fy
— John (Jack) Thompson (@JackThompson_8) August 8, 2016
It is said journalists who were specifically targeted were those working for the online media company, Gawker Media. Gawker journalists were indeed known for their critical reporting on Ailes. Gawker journalists always made sure they investigated deeply, exposing the corrupt dealings of Ailes. Ailes, therefore saw that as a threat and decided to do something to hurt them, in return.
Apart from Gawker journalists, an editor who had worked for a local newspaper in Putnam County owned by Ailes’ wife, was also targeted. Joe Lindsley resigned from the News and Recorder due to Ailes’ wife’s poor management skills. He then became critical of the Ailes family, making him a target in the operation ‘Black Room’.
When these damming revelations were made about Ailes, other Fox News executives – who were mandated to approve budget for the running of the news organization – admitted that Ailes used monies of the organization they never approved. They said they did not question him because they were afraid that he will fire them.
In another life, Roger Ailes would have made an excellent Middle Eastern dictator. https://t.co/i0atFPBHfV
— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) August 8, 2016
One executive pleading anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case said: “it was the culture. You didn’t ask questions, and Roger wouldn’t entertain questions.”
Since the revelations, Fox News has started to take action. It has five consultants who were hired by Ailes. Inside sources say, many others employed by Ailes under strange circumstance will also be fired in the few coming weeks.
Of course it was. Roger Ailes was the answer to the question, “What if Richard Nixon ran a cable news network?” https://t.co/qmzlCaQTQS
— Joe Remi (@JosephRemiB) August 7, 2016
Ailes has a deeply crook history. He was labeled in the past as the “creep” and the “Republican party’s wizard behind the curtain.” He started his life as a political operative during the Richard Nixon administration. A memo from the 70s entitled “A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News” was discovered in 2011, detailing how Ailes and his fellow aides were keen to establish a news network which would be pro-Republican. It is believed that this led to his involvement in the creation of the Fox News Channel.
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