Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Fox News Architect
Bruce Headlam and Tim Arango on Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News whose success has placed him at the pinnacle of power in three corridors of American life: business, media and politics
A Fox Chief at the Pinnacle of Media and Politics
The New York Times - In the fall of 2008, Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, went to his boss, Rupert Murdoch, with two complaints: he had heard that Mr. Murdoch was considering endorsing Barack Obama for president in The New York Post, and he had read a book excerpt in Vanity Fair suggesting that Mr. Murdoch was sometimes embarrassed by the right-leaning Fox News.
Mr. Ailes threatened to quit, a person familiar with the conversation said. Instead, Mr. Murdoch soon rewarded him with a new, more lucrative contract — he made $23 million last year in salary, bonuses and other compensation, more than Mr. Murdoch — and The New York Post endorsed John McCain.
In an interview in late December in his office at News Corporation headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Ailes conceded that he had opposed an Obama endorsement. (“I didn’t think he had the experience,” he said, adding, “I don’t tell Rupert Murdoch who to endorse.”) He was outraged by the Vanity Fair article but said he “demanded nothing” and did not threaten to quit. He said he did not have to.
“If you’re making money and you’ve hit your targets for five years, you don’t need to demand a new contract,” he said.
Mr. Ailes is certainly making money. At a time when the broadcast networks are struggling with diminishing audiences and profits in news, he has built Fox News into the profit engine of the News Corporation. Fox News is believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined. The division is on track to achieve $700 million in operating profit this year, according to analyst estimates that Mr. Ailes does not dispute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/media/10ailes.html
Mr. Ailes threatened to quit, a person familiar with the conversation said. Instead, Mr. Murdoch soon rewarded him with a new, more lucrative contract — he made $23 million last year in salary, bonuses and other compensation, more than Mr. Murdoch — and The New York Post endorsed John McCain.
In an interview in late December in his office at News Corporation headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Ailes conceded that he had opposed an Obama endorsement. (“I didn’t think he had the experience,” he said, adding, “I don’t tell Rupert Murdoch who to endorse.”) He was outraged by the Vanity Fair article but said he “demanded nothing” and did not threaten to quit. He said he did not have to.
“If you’re making money and you’ve hit your targets for five years, you don’t need to demand a new contract,” he said.
Mr. Ailes is certainly making money. At a time when the broadcast networks are struggling with diminishing audiences and profits in news, he has built Fox News into the profit engine of the News Corporation. Fox News is believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined. The division is on track to achieve $700 million in operating profit this year, according to analyst estimates that Mr. Ailes does not dispute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/media/10ailes.html
Monday, January 19, 2009
Will Fox News Swing Left With Obama in Office?
WASHINGTON — When the White House changes occupants this week, it may also change channels.Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday marks the end of an era for the Fox News Channel, the cable news network of choice during the George W. Bush years.
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006, said in an interview last week that “a number of people viewed Fox as an outlet that would be more favorable” than other media groups to the Bush administration. He emphasized that this feeling applied to the network’s conservative commentators, not its correspondents.
The media world will watch carefully to see whether Fox receives the same treatment from an Obama White House that it received from Mr. Bush’s. And it will wait and see whether Fox can stave off its two primary competitors, CNN and MSNBC, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic that matters most to advertisers.
Fox easily leads the other cable networks in that demographic on a total day basis. But for a couple of important hours, the gap has narrowed. On at least 10 days since the election, Fox’s 9 p.m. program “Hannity & Colmes” has been surpassed in the competition for viewers in that demographic by Rachel Maddow, the new MSNBC host.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19fox.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006, said in an interview last week that “a number of people viewed Fox as an outlet that would be more favorable” than other media groups to the Bush administration. He emphasized that this feeling applied to the network’s conservative commentators, not its correspondents.
The media world will watch carefully to see whether Fox receives the same treatment from an Obama White House that it received from Mr. Bush’s. And it will wait and see whether Fox can stave off its two primary competitors, CNN and MSNBC, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic that matters most to advertisers.
Fox easily leads the other cable networks in that demographic on a total day basis. But for a couple of important hours, the gap has narrowed. On at least 10 days since the election, Fox’s 9 p.m. program “Hannity & Colmes” has been surpassed in the competition for viewers in that demographic by Rachel Maddow, the new MSNBC host.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19fox.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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