Internet buzzing with reports that Fox News boss Roger Ailes will be indicted
A man who is probably most responsible for the election of presidents Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush could face a criminal charge, according to various Internet reports.
Citing an unnamed source, blogger and economic commentator Barry Ritholtz claimed in a post that Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News, will be indicted "probably this week, maybe even Monday". Others have repeated Ritholtz's assertions.
In 1996, News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch hired Ailes to run Fox News.
A report on Salon.com indicated that Ritholtz's source was a man he met in a Barbados airport.
According to Salon.com, the man told Ritholtz that Ailes had to cancel an appearance at an event in March because of the pending indictment.
On February 24, the New York Times reported that former HarperCollins publishing executive Judith Regan had alleged in an affidavit that Ailes urged her to lie to federal investigators about her affair with former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik.
The investigators were screening Kerik for the position of homeland security secretary.
According to the New York Times, Regan alleged that Ailes wanted her to lie to protect former New York City mayor Rudolf Giuliani, who was in the early stages of seeking a Republican presidential nomination.
"What is more, the documents say that Ms. Regan taped the telephone call from Mr. Ailes in which Mr. Ailes discussed her relationship with Mr. Kerik," the paper reported. "It is unclear whether the existence of the tape played a role in News Corporation’s decision to move quickly to settle a wrongful termination suit filed by Ms. Regan, paying her $10.75 million in a confidential settlement reached two months after she filed it in 2007."
Fox News has claimed that Ailes did not try to influence Regan.
Ailes was the executive producer of the Mike Douglas Show in the 1960s when he was hired by Nixon to refashion his image.
According to Joe McGinness's book, The Selling of a President, Ailes created a bunch of televised question-and-answer sessions between Nixon and a carefully screened audience to put him in a good light.
These shows were instrumental in helping Nixon overcome the perception that he was a red-baiting, 1950s Cold Warrior.
As president, Nixon continued the Vietnam War and launched a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, resulting in the loss of many lives. The Nixon administration also supported a coup in Chile led by Augusto Pinochet, whose far-right dictatorship tortured and executed its opponents.
Ailes went on to work as a media consultant for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In this capacity, Ailes wrote the script for the infamous Willie Horton revolving door ad, which sank the 1988 campaign of Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis.
As the head of Fox News, Ailes helped ensure that a parade of right-wing commentators received airtime to attack the Democrats.
Fox News also had George W. Bush's cousin, John Ellis, head its decision team in the 2000 election. Ellis is the one who declared that Bush had won Florida, resulting in other networks following suit.
Later as president, Bush falsely claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. This was the justification for an illegal attack that has left approximately 100,000 civilians dead, according to the website iraqbodycount.org.
Fox News and Murdoch's newspapers around the world supported the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Comments
10 Comments
NDB
Feb 27, 2011 at 11:02pm
I have a friend who lives in the US that thinks Foxs News is not biased,
Second Nation
Feb 28, 2011 at 6:46am
NDB: I'm so sorry for you.
Devon
Feb 28, 2011 at 8:20am
@NDB, that is a scary thought.
Evil Eye
Feb 28, 2011 at 10:15am
Americans are indeed scary and woefully ignorant. Most have been brought up with a pablum of John Wayne's Hollywood.
When my sister in law married a chap from Seattle (a university grad to boot), he thought of Vancouver as nothing more than a quaint trading post run by the English! He was amazed on his first visit and confided to me that never once in his primary or secondary schooling was Canada mentioned.
His only knowledge came from brief TV news items and jokes on the Simpson's!
The vast majority of Americans lack even the crudest knowledge of the world.
Doug Sarti
Feb 28, 2011 at 11:51am
I really think that Willie Horton ad was the absolute all-time low point in American politics. Not just horrifically racist, but cynically so.
At least Lee Atwater had the sense to apologize, even if it was on his deathbed. Where's Ailes' shame?
Bob Joyce
Feb 28, 2011 at 12:14pm
There is a reason for that. When you tell people that they are the “freeiest, bestest most superest country evers” (paraphrasing a comment by Sean Hannity – yes, it was THAT bad), being sure that they have nothing to compare it to is almost certainly the best way to secure their belief. In short, Americans are probably the most propagandized in the western world – if not the planet.
As an example – I was reading the New York Times today and in the comments section following a story on the situation in Wisconsin, one fellow claimed it was the public sector unions that were responsible for the economic crisis and, specifically, insisted that it was not the banks. Incredible, no?
Things are far from perfect here in Canada, in fact we have some very serious issues to face, but when I see such profound disconnection from reality commonly expressed I am grateful that I am able to call Vancouver home.
Evil Eye
Feb 28, 2011 at 1:17pm
Yes, there is a great disconnect in the USA, if you disagree with them, they shoot you!
The Americans do not know how to debate, only win and win at all costs.
Kathryn
Feb 28, 2011 at 5:21pm
Not all Americans are gun toting, spoiled brats who would shoot you if you disagreed with them. There are many of us who are horrified at how the banks and elected officials have thrown the American people under the bus for many, many years. We are asking why there is so much greed and where the compassion has gone. We are wondering when the gun toting ignorant propaganda eating public will wake up. Some of us are working very hard to get people to stop believing the Rush Limbaughs, Scott Walkers, Goldman Sachs, Koch Bros, Glenn Becks and Fox News. If you have any ideas to solve these problems, we would be grateful, otherwise you may see many of us moving north to Canada.
rain
Feb 28, 2011 at 6:13pm
Quite the vain and arrogant group here. It's quite humorous actually - considering you're all 'duped' just as much (if not more-so) then the drooling moronic American neighbour's you claim to be smarter then.
Left, Right, Liberal, Conservative - it's all a contrived lie engineered to distract. Go ahead, pick your flavour of deceit and debate your hearts out.
Forget about community - you stand for a side. The good side, the side of benevolence and truth. The other side is of course - wrong.
Meanwhile, the banking mafia who owns both sides of the media, who orchestrate the left/right shenanigans that polarize and distract... will continue to abscond with all our freedoms, wealth, and sovereignty - while we debate deceptions like they 'mean something'.
Yup, nothing more entertaining then watching a bunch of intellectual clowns fighting over who gets to be 'captain' while the bankers sail away with the ship.
Good show. Wonder how it's going to end?
Sven Crawson
Feb 28, 2011 at 6:52pm
"Americans are stupid. Americans are ignorant. Americans will shoot you. With a gun!"
Meanwhile, Canadians are allowing Harper to turn Canada into America's Bitch with draconian security measures, and gangs and drug dealers have completely taken over a large part of Vancouver's downtown.
What's that saying about people who live in glass houses and calling the kettle black??