13. In an interview Dan Balz, “Dispute over ‘Horton’ Ad Adds More Heat to Race for New Jersey Governor,” Washington Post, Aug. 1, 1993.
14. He tried reaching Whitman Author interview with Carl Golden, a former press secretary to Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
15. “Ailes went off” Ibid.
16. On the afternoon of July 27 Ailes Communications, “Ailes Labels Whitman ‘Slick Christie’ ” (press release), July 27, 1993.
17. Whitman’s apology Chris Conway, “GOP Ad Man Gets Apology,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 29, 1993; Jerry Gray, “A Republican Attacks Whitman, Too,” New York Times, Aug. 1, 1993.
18. He flew to Nantucket Brock, “Roger Ailes Is Mad as Hell.”
19. “Roger had a really good relationship” Author interview with a colleague of Roger Ailes.
20. “I was all for it” Author interview with former General Electric CEO Jack Welch.
21. Ailes downplayed Peter Johnson and Brian Donlon, “GOP Strategist Ailes Wooed to Run CNBC,” USA Today, Aug. 16, 1993.
22. three-year contract Letter from Robert Wright to Roger Ailes, Aug. 23, 1993.
23. “Tom’s role was pushed back” Author interview with Jack Welch.
24. “Roger had enemies” Ibid.
25. When Wright made the announcement Hass, “Embracing the Enemy.”
26. Ailes did not inspire Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
27. “A lot of us were leery” Author interview with former CNBC host Doug Ramsey.
28. “Look, there’s one way” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
29. In a cost-cutting move Linda Moss, “NBC’s Cable Gambit Sends Out a Signal,” Crain’s New York Business, April 10, 1989.
30. “We’re going to knock” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
31. He recruited Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
32. “It used to be” Author interview with a former CNBC senior producer.
33. “He was there” Author interview with Bob Wright.
34. Early on, Ailes summoned Author interview with a former CNBC anchor.
35. “Some said it was vicious” Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
36. As a campaign operative Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes: The Way to the White House (New York: Open Road Integrated Media ebook, 2011), 565.
37. presidential tie clip David Lieberman, “Taking to New Stump: CNBC’s Ailes Dares to Raise Cable Stakes,” USA Today, April 28, 1994.
38. Ailes became a regular Author interview with Jack Welch. “He and Ebersol would come in together,” Welch recalled. “They’d love to order cheeseburgers and French fries. That’s part of Roger. He’s the most entertaining person to hang out with. He’s funny and quick.”
39. He attended parties Hass, “Embracing the Enemy.”
40. Positioning himself Author interview with a former CNBC anchor.
41. To celebrate the marriage Author interview with Jane Wallace, who attended the party.
42. “My wife called it” Author interview with a former CNBC host.
43. “I’ll never forget” Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
44. At GE budget meetings Author interview with a former NBC executive.
45. “I saw that” Author interview with Robert Wright.
46. Eight months into his run David Lieberman, “Taking to New Stump/CNBC’s Ailes Dares to Raise Cable Stakes,” USA Today, April 28, 1994.
47. “Markets were becoming a huge story” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
48. Ailes thought CNBC Lieberman, “Taking to New Stump.”
49. “The Dow plummets” Rebecca Johnson, “The Correction, or Whatever It Is, Will Be Televised,” New Yorker, April 18, 1994.
50. “We talked about the feel” Author interview with a former CNBC senior producer.
51. “Chet was his father” Author interview with former CNBC producer Glenn Meehan.
52. Lingering over a scotch Author interview with a former CNBC employee.
53. Paul Rittenberg Richard Linnett, “Media Mavens: Paul Rittenberg,” Advertising Age, Sept. 29, 2003.
54. David Zaslav Biography of David Zaslav at Businessweek.com, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=612978&ticker=DISCA.
55. Brian Lewis Biography of Brian Lewis at http://view.fdu.edu/?id=1963.
56. In the fall of 1993 Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
57. Jeanine Pirro Jacques Steinberg, “Rancor in District Attorney’s Race; Cherkasky-Pirro Campaign Pits Newcomer Against Veteran,” New York Times, Oct. 19, 1993. In 2006, Ailes hired Pirro at Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/personalities/jeanine-pirro/bio/#s=m-q.
58. On his first day Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
59. “She lived and breathed CNBC” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
60. One weekend, Ailes came into Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
61. “Roger demanded loyalty” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
62. Her boss, Peter Sturtevant See Broadcasting & Cable, Oct. 24, 1994, 63.
63. In December, he made her “Tilson’s Talking,” Broadcasting & Cable, Dec. 13, 1993.
64. Producers would often see her Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
65. “I used to have lunch” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
66. “As someone” Jane Hall, “CNBC Chief No Stranger to the Tube,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 18, 1993.
67. “I figure there are” Frazier Moore, “Trying to Cure What Ailes You,” Associated Press, Aug. 6, 1995.
68. “His idea was” Author interview with Robert Wright.
69. “The first day” Author interview with former A-T executive producer Renata Joy.
70. The lineup Joe Flint, Daily Variety, May 5, 1994.
71. In late June 1994 NBC contract with Belmont Street Broadcasting, June 20, 1994.
72. “He very much believed” Author interview with former A-T producer Dennis Sullivan.
73. “When you work with Roger” Author interview with a former A-T assistant producer.
74. “He’s very good” Author interview with Dennis Sullivan.
75. “They were like a pep rally” Author interview with a former A-T producer.
76. At around 4:30 “Fire Knocks Out CNBC,” Boston Globe, May 11, 1994.
77. “Roger went back” Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
78. In one early session Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
79. “He called it” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
80. “We’d get newspapers” Author interview with Glenn Meehan.
81. The network signed a deal “America’s Talking is nation’s first interactive live television network—exclusive deal with Prodigy; Prodigy simultaneously begins chat for television interactivity,” Business Wire, June 15, 1994.
82. “They were struggling” Author interview with former A-T producer Tony Morelli.
83. During his first year Hass, “Embracing the Enemy.”
84. he drew a $5,000-a-month Email from former Philip Morris executive Thomas Collamore to Craig Fuller, http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/upq91a00/pdf.
85. The goal, according to Philip Morris internal document, http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wnc97g00/pdf.
86. He went after Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 19, citing Kurt Andersen as the source. Andersen’s story, “Big Mouths,” appeared in the Nov. 1, 1993, issue of Time.
87. One day Peter Sturtevant got Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
88. Ailes called in to Don Imus’s Lois Romano, “The Reliable Source” (column), Washington Post, March 11, 1994.
89. one was under investigation David Johnston, “Clinton Associate Quits Justice Post as Pressure Rises,” New York Times, March 15, 1994. Bernard Nussbaum was forced to resign in early March 1994
. Webster Hubbell, who was under investigation at the time, resigned a week later.
90. Like all the networks Peter Johnson, “Ailes’ Whitewater Jokes Don’t Amuse White House,” USA Today, March 15, 1994.
91. Lewis launched Mary Alma Welch, “Cable Exec’s ‘Joke’ Bombs at White House; Remarks by Ailes ‘Inappropriate,’ ” Washington Post, March 12, 1994.
92. “Ailes wasn’t joking” Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
93. “He had no right” Author interview with former CNBC host Jane Wallace.
94. Wallace quit Joe Flint, “FX Talker Taps Wallace,” Daily Variety, April 6, 1994.
95. After the weekend Peter Johnson, “Ailes’ Whitewater Jokes Don’t Amuse White House.”
96. “Tom’s had a little trouble” Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 18, citing an interview Ailes gave to Multichannel News in May 1994.
97. Rogers was furious Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
98. “Roger has a very large ego” Author interview with Robert Wright.
99. “Who are you loyal to?” Author interview with a former senior executive at NBC.
100. “I’m going to rip” Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
101. One day, the executive noticed Ibid.
102. “Ailes didn’t trust David” Author interview with a former staffer at America’s Talking.
103. Ailes asked Scott Ehrlich Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
104. Rogers approached Peter Sturtevant Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
105. “Sturtevant, I don’t want” Ibid.
106. She had cut off Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
107. Sturtevant finally was transferred J. Max Robins, “NBC Cable Ups Sturtevant, Reilly,” Daily Variety, Oct. 4, 1994.
108. While Ailes seemed happy Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
109. Ailes openly criticized David Brock, “Roger Ailes Is Mad as Hell,” New York, Nov. 17, 1997.
110. In late 1994 Author interview with a former A-T producer. See also Alan Bash, “Vignettes Give Cable Networks Identity,” USA Today, March 14, 1994.
111. Modeled after “The Fastest Soaps, Bar None,” Washington Post, Feb. 5, 1995.
112. “Roger ran his life” Author interview with Glenn Meehan.
113. “America is talking, but” Author interview with a former senior NBC executive.
114. Dennis Sullivan Author interview with Dennis Sullivan.
115. She grew up Elizabeth Ailes’s commencement speech for the Mount Saint Mary College class of 2012, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoTlCx7Kzx0.
116. “I remember” Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
117. Others marveled Author interview with a former CNBC producer.
118. Glenn Meehan also noticed Author interview with Glenn Meehan.
119. Nancy Hass Nancy Hass, “Embracing the Enemy: Roger Ailes,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 8, 1995.
120. At first Ailes resisted Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
121. Hass interviewed Welch Ibid.
122. “It was taken internally” Author interview with a former America’s Talking staffer.
123. “Roger sees everyone” Hass, “Embracing the Enemy.”
TEN: “A VERY, VERY DANGEROUS MAN”
1. Five days The following account is based on Ted Turner and Bill Burke, Call Me Ted (New York: Hachette Digital, 2008), 309–10. See also Skip Wollenberg, “Turner Broadcasting Breaks Off Talks with NBC,” Associated Press, Jan. 16, 1995.
2. The network’s operating income Charles Haddad, “Ready for a Rivalry,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Dec. 24, 1995.
3. One afternoon Author interview with a former CNBC executive.
4. Shortly afterward, Wright and Scanlon Letter from Andy Friendly to Robert Wright and Ed Scanlon, March 13, 1995.
5. CNBC’s prime-time chief Andy Friendly confided Ibid.
6. Executives dubbed her Author interview with a former CNBC staffer.
7. On Monday, March 13 Letter from Andy Friendly to Robert Wright and Ed Scanlon, March 13, 1995.
8. “When you get” Author interview with Robert Wright.
9. He took a job King World, “CNBC’s Andy Friendly Joins King World as Executive VP of Programming and Production” (press release), Oct. 2, 1995.
10. In June 1995 Bill Carter, “CNN Officials to Propose a Business News Cable Service,” New York Times, June 9, 1995.
11. Ailes had tried J. Max Robins, “The ABC’s of Michael Jackson,” Variety, June 26–July 9, 1995.
12. He contemplated running attack ads Joe Flint, “Brand Name Good for Biz,” Variety, Dec. 11–Dec. 17, 1995.
13. “At this point” Robins, “The ABC’s of Michael Jackson.”
14. Ailes told the press Carter, “CNN Officials to Propose a Business News Cable Service.”
15. The negotiating window Peter Johnson and Alan Bash, “Roger Ailes Ponders His Future with CNBC,” USA Today, June 21, 1995.
16. Nine days Johnson and Bash, “Roger Ailes Ponders His Future with CNBC.”
17. On June 30, 1995 Letter from Robert Wright to Roger Ailes, June 30, 1995.
18. “This is where” Author interview with Robert Wright.
19. In May 1995 Evan Ramstad, “Business News,” Associated Press, May 16, 1995. See also Bradley Johnson, “Microsoft-NBC: A ‘Virtual Corporation’; Details May Be Fuzzy but Packaging Is Loud as Companies Converge,” Advertising Age, May 22, 1995.
20. Tom Rogers started Author interview with Robert Wright.
21. Ailes was initially unaware Swint, Dark Genius, 124–26. See also Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 15, 18.
22. “The reality” Author interview with Robert Wright.
23. “meltdown mode” Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 22.
24. Norma had filed Divorce case 309767-1994, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Justice Phyllis Gangel-Jacob.
25. “The bubble broke” Author interview with Robert Wright.
26. At a company dinner Brock, “Roger Ailes Is Mad as Hell.”
27. “a little fucking Jew prick” Handwritten notes of Edward Scanlon following the alleged incident.
28. On Saturday, September 30 Ibid.
29. That night, Scanlon briefed Ibid. Much of the following paragraph is based on Scanlon’s notes.
30. “Howard Ganz” Author interview with Robert Wright.
31. NBC gave Ganz Typed notes of Proskauer partner Howard Ganz. Much of the account of Ganz’s investigation detailed in subsequent paragraphs is based on these notes.
32. A week into Ganz’s inquiry Letter from Jim Greiner to Roger Ailes, Oct. 10, 1995, forwarded to Edward Scanlon, Oct. 10, 1995.
33. “Roger is really working” Letter from Edward Scanlon to Howard Ganz, Oct. 10, 1995.
34. Bob Wright later said Author interview with Robert Wright.
35. Friday, October 13 Letter from David Zaslav to Howard Ganz, Oct. 17, 1995.
36. On October 17 Typed notes of Howard Ganz prior to meeting with Hon. Milton Mollen.
37. When later asked Author interview with Milton Mollen. In an author interview, Howard Ganz confirmed that he was brought in by NBC to handle the dispute between Ailes and Zaslav. In a follow-up email, Ganz said: “I did, however, review what remains of my files regarding the matter involving Roger Ailes and they do not add anything more to the recollection I had when I spoke with you.” When I asked Tom Rogers about the events, he denied both being involved and that any incident ever occurred. “I am denying having gone to Scanlon,” he said. A day after I spoke with Tom Rogers, David Zaslav returned my call, having previously declined to speak with me for the book. “Tom Rogers called me and told me what you’re gonna lay out,” Zaslav said. As I began to detail my reporting, Zaslav cut the conversation off. “I don’t mean to be rude. I don’t care about the context,” he said. “It’s your book. You are going t
o write the narrative you are going to write. I’m saying to you that Roger and I had a screaming match and we had it out with each other. The anti-Semitic remark: If you write it, it’s false.” Zaslav continued: “Roger and I had many arguments. If there were an HR investigation, it was because we were telling each other to go to hell. Gabe, I wish you luck with your book.” He hung up the phone. After the conversation, I called his spokesperson and requested a follow-up conversation. Zaslav never responded to my request. Ed Scanlon and Richard Cotton declined to comment.
38. NBC drafted Internal NBC memo, Oct. 19, 1995.
39. On October 20 Letter from Roger Ailes to Robert Wright, Oct. 20, 1995.
40. But Ailes was getting reports Memo from Brian Lewis to Roger Ailes, Oct. 18, 1995.
41. Wednesday, October 25 Letter from David Zaslav to Edward Scanlon, Oct. 25, 1995.
42. “It was a he-said” Author interview with Robert Wright.
43. At a staff meeting Internal NBC memo, Oct. 30, 1995.
44. On November 10 Employment agreements regarding Roger Ailes and David Zaslav, Nov. 10, 1995.
45. “There was no apology” Author interview with Milton Mollen.
46. On November 21 “Communications Personals,” Communications Daily, Nov. 21, 1995.
47. One Ailes loyalist Author interview with a former CNBC colleague of Ailes.
48. In late November 1995 Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 18.
49. “It was very, very uncomfortable” Ibid.
50. “He said he would run it” Author interview with Robert Wright.
51. “I love competition” Elizabeth Sanger, “Financial News Is Hot,” Newsday, Dec. 3, 1995.
52. On December 14 Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 5–10, 17.
53. On-screen, Bob Wright CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video, “NBC Holds News Conference to Announce New 24-Hour News Channel” (transcript), Dec. 14, 1995.
54. Microsoft was investing Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 9.
55. The staggering $7.5 billion Mark Landler, “Turner to Merge into Time Warner; a $7.5 Billion Deal,” New York Times, Sept. 23, 1995.
56. In early December United Press International, “ABC to Launch 24-Hour Cable News Channel,” Dec. 5, 1995.
57. Speaking to a group Associated Press, “Murdoch Planning All-News TV Network,” Nov. 29, 1995.
The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country Page 60