For much of the past 15 years, Roger Ailes has operated with virtual impunity inside Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Nothing, it seemed, could induce Murdoch to rebuke Ailes publicly, even if Ailes forced Murdoch to choose between him and his sons. Such was Ailes’s power that he has been able to run a right-wing political operation under the auspices of a news channel.
This week, for the first time, there are signs that this remarkable era may be entering its twilight. Yesterday, 21st Century Fox announced that Ailes would be reporting to Lachlan and James Murdoch. For Ailes, it was a stinging smack-down and effectively a demotion.And, why is this anything more than inside- "Bullshit Mountain"- baseball?
Ailes and James have maintained a distant, if frosty, relationship. James is an environmentalist who led News Corp's campaign to be a carbon-neutral company. His wife once worked for the Clinton Foundation. Ailes, a fierce climate-change denier, openly badmouthed James to friends and colleagues. He's called him a "fucking dope" and "Fredo," according to sources.
No one I spoke to in the hours after the news broke could remember a time when Ailes has been so publicly diminished. "History was made," a longtime Ailes associate told me. "It is terrible for Roger," said another. "It is a public contradiction. Roger takes these things personally. Worse, it shows that Rupert did not give him a heads-up of the management change in advance. That alone was a slight to his ego.""Jabba The Nut" Ailes' contract with Fox expires in 2016. Maybe he'll be offered an early buyout.
(Image: Approximate visualization of Roger Ailes.)
