How Roger Ailes and Fox News Changed American Media

May 22

May 22 How Roger Ailes and Fox News Changed American Media

Last Thursday morning Roger Ailes died from internal bleeding, the result of a terrible fall from the week before. Media outlets split into splintered schisms at the revelation that a fear mongering, sexual harassing bigot was dead. Some celebrated his death by rehashing his shaping of Fox News and its negative influence on the world of political news today, while others at least acknowledged that he was a genius, in that he changed the way news is consumed and information disseminated. Between Ailes and Bill O’Reilly’s departures from the media conglomerate, the network has been eerily decimated in the public eye, and yet ratings are as high as ever. Fox News has been the number one cable news channel since the Bush years, and it’s because of Ailes. Let’s look back now at the legacy that this infamous man has left behind.

Fox News was started by Rupert Murdoch in 1996. Early shows included The Edge, The O’Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Hannity and Colmes, Fox & Friends, and Drudge. Ailes was appointed CEO after serving as a political consultant for Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. He had worked for America’s Talking (now MSNBC), and was a former executive for NBC. The original launch of Fox News was only available in 10 million households, but by the 2000 presidential election that number had risen to 56 million. While Ailes originally vowed that the programming wouldn’t have a political agenda and the news would be fair and balanced, this was not to be the case. The network was not only biased, but the news that was being spouted was almost completely driven by opinion and bluster rather than hard hitting journalism. O’Reilly is probably the best example of this, as his show was the most lucrative for the network, and ran for a twenty-one polarizing years.

The programming that ran during the Bush years was highly influential on the American public and politicians alike. The televisions in the White House, which had been tuned to CNN during the Clinton years, were now always running Fox News. The network faced many scandals during the Bush years, including unearthed memos from Vice President of News John Moody that advocated biased reports about the 2006 congressional election, the publication of a PIPA study that found that 35% of Fox viewers held three huge misconceptions about the Iraq War, (including that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and were co-conspirators on 9/11) and the doctoring of New York Times reporters pictures to make them look uglier. The network was also heavily criticized for many bigoted, homophobic, and generally prejudicial comments from its hosts, especially Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly often said that white privilege didn’t exist, that a female president would come with many downsides, and that poor people were basically lazy and didn’t deserve any government assistance. Though he said these things, it wasn’t until 2017 he was ousted, because the public found out about his buried sexual harassment law suits.

Fox News is a toxic cesspool of sexual harassment and prejudicial practices. This has been acknowledged with Ailes and O’Reilly’s public exits, but just watching Fox News on a daily basis is enough. Many of Fox News’ female contributors and hosts are sexualized, objectified, and treated rather poorly by their male equivalents. Countless examples can be found online of female reporters, who possess genius level intelligence, grace, and poise, dealing with comments thrown at them by male peers that completely undercut their value as serious journalists. Megyn Kelly is a prime example of a strong, smart journalist, but during her time with the network she was blatantly harassed, and even dealt with unfair, sexist comments from the presidential nominee of the time, Donald Trump. She anchored her own show, ran the news desk for the network during the 2012 presidential election, and was a moderator during a Republican debate in 2016. She ended her show, The Kelly File, in 2017 and will now be anchoring for NBC, a move that has surprised no one.

In the past five years the network has become unequivocally vicious. Conspiracy theories about the Clintons, endless reports about the birther movement, and Islamophobic rhetoric have been the network’s bread and butter. Trump became his own mouth piece, regularly appearing on the network to place doubts on the Democrats, and to relay that he would do a much better job running the country. In present day America, without fail, our president watches Fox & Friends at 10 am, a fact well documented and further acknowledged in his daily Tweets and speeches. The leader of the free world uses the same news source as Twitter trolls. Fox News has more of a hold on the trajectory of our political future than the actual president. Doesn’t that just make you want to puke? There’s no telling what this behemoth of an organization can accomplish with the right money and influence.

Last Thursday Bill O’Reilly wrote an obituary for his mentor in USA Today. He posits that the reason that the legendary newsman died was because we as a society were too mean to the septuagenarian. And I quote, “We are living in a rough age, with technological advances changing behavior and perspective. The downside of that is turning us into a nation where hatred is almost celebrated in some quarters.” The irony of O’Reilly’s statement seems to be completely lost on him. Spreading misinformation and false patriotism was apparently a bold and moral quest, but bringing to light the mistreatment and degradation of an entire news network’s female employees was a witch hunt. This attitude baffles me. Mike Huckabee, another Fox host, was up in arms last week about the treatment of his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, by the Internet, yet he has spread vitriolic hate for the LGBT community for years. This is Fox in a nutshell: a place that demonizes anyone who isn’t a white male conservative, but can’t handle it when actual journalism unearths an unsavory truth.

Ailes, like Roger Stone, also saw fit to groom future presidents. Ailes worked on many Republican campaigns, Trump’s included. There are perhaps five white men who are controlling all of American conservative politics, and one of the formally most powerful just died. Ailes’ death does not quell outrage, or end this era of grievous harm through televised news. This is still an era of paranoia and misogyny. Hyperbole is more important than fact, and emotion is more prominent on Fox News than informed speech. Ailes, an intelligent man who used his powers for evil, has changed our way of life from the inside out, and with his passing we are more closely scrutinizing the ways in which he has shaped our world. One man can make a difference. That sentiment used to be inspiring to me.

Sources:

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqMedia_Oct03/IraqMedia_Oct03_rpt.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Fox_News

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/roger-e-ailes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/culture-of-misogyny-makes-oreillys-hotline-defense-nothing-short-of-ridiculous/2017/04/05/671acdd0-1a0a-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html?utm_term=.d0326b5d0e4e

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-02/trump-s-world-increasingly-shaped-by-fox-news-and-fox-by-trump