Tag Archives: Roger Ailes

Roger Ailes = Steve Jobs?

“The way I would think about Roger Ailes is that he is the Steve Jobs of television and politics. Steve Jobs came around and created Apple at a time when many other people were experimenting with personal computers and when Apple really found its success with the first iPod around the beginning of the last decade there were many other mp3 players in the marketplace. But Steve Jobs came along and because of his deep understanding of how people relate to technology, he was able to make this package work and it became this irresistible product.

“So, Ailes in his own way, although he’s a very different man than Steve Jobs politically and philosophically, he did the same thing with conservative media. He wasn’t the first. There had been these ideas percolating on the right for decades. But he came along and unlocked the secret because Ailes has this intrinsic understanding of how to talk to people and how to move people within the network to do his bidding. It took a charismatic personality like Ailes to unlock the secret in the same way Steve Jobs with Apple unlocked the secret of personal technology. Sometimes being the real visionary and the pioneer is not about being first. It’s about seeing what other people can’t see.”

Gabriel Sherman, author of The Loudest Voice in the Room, a biography of Fox News’ Roger Ailes, in an interview with Tom Kludt at Talking Points Memo.  The entire interview is well worth a read.  http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/roger-ailes-gabriel-sherman-tpm

Sean to Siberia at Seven?

Latest rumor is that Sean Hannity is getting pushed to 7 o’clock when Megyn Kelly takes his 9 P. M. slot.  That’s not prime time.

Smart move by Ailes.  Who watches Fox News?  Old white guys.  And the ones who now turn off Fox after O’Reilly (and that’s a third or more of Loofah Boy’s audience) will stay tuned to watch the pretty young blonde lady.

The Next Mrs. Murdoch?

Is it just a coincidence that Rupert Murdoch announced he’s divorcing Wendi and Fox News announced that Sarah Palin is coming back on the same day?

Back at the beginning of the year, Roger Ailes offered to renew Palin’s contract but at a smidge of the $1 million a year she had been getting.  She stomped off in a huff in her cheesy red Naughty Monkeys and has now come crawling back, given that nothing else has turned up for her since (unless you count Bristol and Willow appearing on Joan and Melissa Rivers’ show).

I think this has just been a really long contract negotiation, one Ailes knew he would ultimately win.

I’d love to hear the tape of Palin begging.  Where the hell is the NSA when you need them?

Karl Rove and Dick Morris to Spend More Time with Their Families

From “Fox News Puts Karl Rove on the Bench,” Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine:

“The post-election soul searching going on inside the Republican Party is taking place inside Fox News as well. Fox News chief Roger Ailes, a canny marketer and protector of his network’s brand, has been taking steps since November to reposition Fox in the post-election media environment, freshening story lines — and in some cases, changing the characters. According to multiple Fox sources, Ailes has issued a new directive to his staff: He wants the faces associated with the election off the air — for now. For Karl Rove and Dick Morris — a pair of pundits perhaps most closely aligned with Fox’s anti-Obama campaign — Ailes’s orders mean new rules. Ailes’s deputy, Fox News programming chief Bill Shine, has sent out orders mandating that producers must get permission before booking  Rove or  Morris.”

If only they had to get permission from me….  Mitt’s loss really is the gift that keeps on giving — I can use a break from evil Rove and smarmy Morris.