The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country

by Sherman, Gabriel

  44. As they spoke by phone Author interview with Fran Reiter. See also Lewis, King, and Chang, “TV Titans in Power Play.”

  45. Aurelio was entering Author interview with Richard Aurelio.

  46. On Tuesday, October 1 Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Oct. 25, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York. See also Masters and Burrough, “Cable Guys.”

  47. Later that day Affidavit of Fran Reiter. See also Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  48. “When you’re screwed over” Elizabeth Lesly, “The Dumbest Show in Television,” Businessweek, Oct. 20, 1996.

  49. That evening Michele Greppi and Gregory Zuckerman, “24-Hour Channel’s Toast of the Town,” New York Post, Oct. 2, 1996. See also Clifford J. Levy, “Lobby at Murdoch Gala Ignited Cable Clash,” New York Times, Oct. 13, 1996; Masters and Burrough, “Cable Guys.”

  50. Giuliani called Author interview with Richard Aurelio. See also Clifford J. Levy, “Murdoch Gets Pataki Support in Cable Fight,” New York Times, Oct. 9, 1996.

  51. On Thursday, October 3 Letter from former Time Warner general counsel Peter Haje to Fran Reiter, Oct. 3, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  52. Norman Sinel Opinion of U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote, Nov. 6, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  53. Reiter’s chief of staff Letter from David Klasfeld, former chief of staff for Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter, to former Time Warner president Richard Parsons, Oct. 4, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  54. “People who are out there” Jane Hall, “How Fox News Plans to Challenge Cable’s Giant,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 3, 1996.

  55. “I see no value” Verne Gay, “The All-News Wars Heat Up,” Newsday (New York), Oct. 7, 1996.

  56. Andy Lack told Ed Bark, “Fox Joins the Hunt in TV News,” Dallas Morning News, Oct. 6, 1996.

  57. Shortly before 6:00 Frazier Moore, “Fox News Channel Signs On—to Take On CNN and MSNBC,” Associated Press, Oct. 7, 1996.

  58. In the control room Moore, “Fox News Channel Signs On—To Take On CNN and MSNBC.” See also Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 82–83.

  59. For the opening day Matt Roush, “Fox News Channel: Not Craft Enough,” USA Today, Oct. 8, 1996. See also Erik Mink, “Fox News Channel’s off to a Dizzying Start,” New York Daily News, Oct. 8, 1996; Tom Shales, review, Washington Post, Oct. 12, 1996; Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 138.

  60. In his second-floor office Roger Ailes, “Roy H. Park Lecture,” University of North Carolina, April 12, 2012, http://jomc.unc.edu/roger-ailes-park-lecture-april-12-2012-transcript.

  61. Unlike the executives Author interview with a former Fox News executive.

  62. “He knew there were” Author interview with Ed Rollins.

  63. Time Warner had previously agreed Testimony of former New York City corporation counsel Paul Crotty, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  64. “Good morning” Testimony of Roger Ailes, Joint Public Hearing of the New York City Franchise and Review Committee (transcript), Oct. 7, 1996.

  65. Conspicuously missing Matt Roush, “Fox News Channel: Not Crafty Enough,” USA Today, Oct. 8, 1996.

  66. As evidence, Ailes Sallie Hofmeister, “He May Be Working for Someone Else, But He’s Still Ted Turner,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 24, 1996.

  67. He called Deputy Mayor Michael O. Allen and David L. Lewis, “Rudy: Is Ted Fit for Cable?,” New York Daily News, Oct. 20, 1996.

  68. On multiple occasions Author interview with Richard Aurelio.

  69. Soon after speaking Letter from Richard Parsons to David Klasfeld, Oct. 7, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  70. Parsons publicly severed ties David Firestone, “Time Warner Wins Order Keeping Fox off City Cable TV,” New York Times, Oct. 12, 1996.

  71. On October 9 Complaint, Fox News v. Time Warner, 96-cv-4963, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

  72. New York State attorney general Jay Mathews, “Murdoch’s News Channel Denied N.Y. Cable Outlet,” Washington Post, Oct. 15, 1996.

  73. At once, Manhattan borough president Letter from Ruth Messinger to former New York City Conflicts of Interest Board chairman Sheldon Oliensis, Oct. 8, 1996.

  74. The board would dismiss Clifford J. Levy, “City Ethics Panel Rules for Giuliani in Time Warner Cable Case,” New York Times, Oct. 22, 1996.

  75. “Disagree with me” Levy, “Lobbying at Murdoch Gala Ignited New York Cable Clash.”

  76. On October 9 Clifford J. Levy, “In Cable TV Fight, Mayor Plans to Put Fox Channel on a City Station,” New York Times, Oct. 10, 1996.

  77. After receiving a tip Masters and Burrough, “Cable Guys.” See also affidavit of Richard Aurelio, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  78. “We decided” Author interview with Richard Aurelio.

  79. A few minutes later Masters and Burrough, “Cable Guys.”

  80. One of many Amicus brief of Ruth Messinger, Mark Green, and Fernando Ferrer, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  81. Ailes suffered the first Firestone, “Time Warner Wins Order Keeping Fox off City Cable TV.”

  82. Reiter told the lawyers Affidavit of Fran Reiter, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  83. New York magazine speculated Beth Landman Keil and Deborah Mitchell, “Intelligencer” (column), New York, Nov. 11, 1996, http://www.books.google.com/books?id=NuECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&dq=%22reiter%22+ailes+%22time+warner%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4-FbUtywH9PqkQf17IGgAg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22reiter%22%20ailes%20%22time%20warner%22&f=false.

  84. Parsons was forced Author interview with Richard Aurelio.

  85. Meanwhile, during Testimony of Ted Turner, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York.

  86. On Monday, October 21 New York Post, Oct. 21, 1996.

  87. The immature taunts I. J. Rosenberg, “World Series; Braves vs. Yankees; Braves Notebook; Cox Plays Pendleton Hunch,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Oct. 22, 1996. See also Ellis Henican, “Ink-Stained; Tainted Coverage in Clash of Network Titans,” New York Newsday, Oct. 23, 1996; Turner and Burke, Call Me Ted, 337.

  88. “I thought about killing him” Masters and Burrough, “Cable Guys.” See also Turner and Burke, Call Me Ted, 338.

  89. The three-day preliminary injunction hearing Harry Berkowitz, “Media Blitz/Time Warner, Fox Battle for New York Returns to Court. Big Cable Clash Has Big Egos,” Newsday (New York), Oct. 28, 1996.

  90. The 106-page opinion Opinion of U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote, Nov. 6, 1996, Time Warner Cable v. City of New York, http://www.nyls.edu/user_files/1/3/4/30/84/85/114/136/timewnyc.pdf.

  91. “I used to say” Author interview with Catherine Crier.

  92. Most Fox affiliates Author interview with a former Fox News executive.

  93. Mike Schneider and Crier bickered Author interview with a Fox News executive.

  94. “Chet Collier called us in” Author interview with Emily Rooney.

  ACT IV

  FOURTEEN: ANTI-CLINTON NEWS NETWORK

  1. On a summer afternoon Author interview with former Fox News correspondent David Shuster.

  2. McDougals’ recent trial R. H. Melton and Michael Haddigan, “Three Guilty in Arkansas Fraud Trial,” Washington Post, May 29, 1996.

  3. the same year Philip Weiss, “The Clinton Haters: Clinton Crazy,” New York Times, Feb. 23, 1997. See also Clinton Chronicles on YouTube (video), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLnZwwYlYP0.

  4. had subpoenaed Hillary Clinton Alison Mitchell, “Hillary Clinton Is Subpoenaed to Testify Before a Grand Jury,” New York Times, Jan. 23, 1996.

  5. “Why is this important?” Author interview with David Shuster.

  6. the first lady Hillary Clinton was never indicted.

  7. Two weeks after mailing Author interview with David Shuster.

  8. “I remember Roger” Author interview with former Fox News producer Adam Sank.

  9. It was The New York Times Jeff Gerth and
Stephen Engelberg, “U.S. Investigating Clinton’s Links to Arkansas S. & L.,” New York Times, Nov. 2, 1993.

  10. “Monica [Lewinsky] was a news” Kinney Littlefield, “Reliable Sources,” Orange County Register, May 9, 1999.

  11. “I was having the time” Author interview with David Shuster.

  12. One of the things Shuster Ibid.

  13. many of the suburban precincts Alicia Mundy, “Washington: Is Anybody Out There?” Mediaweek, Feb. 3, 1997.

  14. Moody had gone to Washington Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 79.

  15. When Defense Secretary David Bauder, “Fox News Channel Fuming Over Exclusion from Cohen Trip,” Associated Press, Feb. 27, 1997.

  16. A few months later John Carmody, “The TV Column,” Washington Post, Sept. 8, 1997.

  17. in the spring of 1997 Fox News v. Time Warner, 96-cv-4963, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), judicial order, May 16, 1997. See also Time Warner v. Bloomberg L.P., 96-9515, 96-9517, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, judicial order, July 3, 1997.

  18. But in mid-July Lawrie Mifflin, “In the Murdoch-Levin Dispute, Money Talked,” New York Times, July 28, 1997.

  19. Ailes was triumphant Jon Lafayette, “New Pro: With New York Hurdle Crossed, Fox Hits Stride,” Electronic Media, Sept. 15, 1997.

  20. once declared David Brock, “Confessions of a Right-Wing Hit Man,” Esquire, July 1997.

  21. In a bid to get Author interview with David Brock.

  22. “Three people in the world” Brock, “Roger Ailes Is Mad as Hell.”

  23. His friend, gossip columnist Liz Smith, “Valentine’s Day Wedding,” Los Angeles Times Syndicate, published in Toledo Blade, Dec. 23, 1997.

  24. On Sunday morning Author interview with a senior Fox News Channel executive.

  25. Just past midnight Matt Drudge, “Newsweek Kills Story on White House Intern,” Drudge Report, Jan. 17, 1998, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.htm.

  26. “At the last minute” Ibid.

  27. What should Fox put Author interview with a senior Fox News Channel executive.

  28. In December, he met with Stephen Battaglio, “Net Columnist Drudge Uploads Fox News Deal,” BPI Entertainment News Wire, March 2, 1998.

  29. The thirty-one-year-old See Matt Drudge, Drudge Manifesto (New York: New American Library, 2000).

  30. He relished beating the press pack Todd S. Purdum, “It Was Something He Said,” New York Times, Aug. 17, 1997.

  31. On August 11, 1997 Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F.Supp. 44 (D.C. Cir. 1998), complaint.

  32. Though Drudge pulled down the story Ibid.

  33. “I don’t give a damn” Bruce Haring, “Matt Drudge’s Maverick Journalism Jars Internet,” USA Today, Aug. 14, 1997.

  34. “You better have multiple sources” Author interview with a source familiar with the matter.

  35. Acting on Ailes’s directive Author interview with a senior Fox News Channel executive.

  36. Snow’s co-anchor Tony Snow and Mara Liasson, Fox News Sunday, Fox News Channel, Jan. 18, 1998.

  37. David Shuster was not surprised Most of the details involving David Shuster are derived from author interviews with Shuster.

  38. The item revealed Matt Drudge, “Former White House Intern Called; New Background Details Emerge,” Drudge Report, Jan. 18, 1998, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.htm.

  39. At 6:00 p.m. Matt Drudge, “Former White House Intern Denied Sex with President in Sworn Affidavit,” Drudge Report, Jan. 19, 1998, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.htm.

  40. “They didn’t want to play” Author interview with a senior Fox producer.

  41. Linda Tripp Josh Getlin and Marc Lacey, “ ‘Tell-All’ Book Called Goal of Linda Tripp,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 25, 1998.

  42. “You ought to talk to Lucianne Goldberg” Jeffrey Toobin, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President (New York: Touchstone, 1999), 100.

  43. “We were all part of” Author interview with literary agent Lucianne Goldberg.

  44. “His message was” Author interview with a participant on the call.

  45. “TONIGHT ON THE DRUDGE REPORT” Matt Drudge, “Tonight on the Drudge Report: Controversy Swirls Around Tapes of Former White House Intern, as Starr Moves In,” Drudge Report, Jan. 20, 1998, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.htm.

  46. “CLINTON ACCUSED OF URGING AIDE TO LIE” Susan Schmidt, Peter Baker, and Toni Locy, “Clinton Accused of Urging Aide to Lie; Starr Probes Whether President Told Woman to Deny Alleged Affair to Jones’s Lawyers,” Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1998.

  47. “WASH POST SCREAMS INTERN STORY!” Matt Drudge, “Wash Post Screams Intern Story,” Drudge Report, Jan. 20, 1998, http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.htm.

  48. On Monday morning, January 26 President William J. Clinton, “Child Care,” C-Span, Jan. 26, 1998 (relevant portion begins at 24:30), http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChildCare4.

  49. For Ailes, who had watched Author interview with a Fox staffer who was present.

  50. “Roger saw Clinton thumbing” Author interview with a friend of Ailes.

  51. “Roger once said” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  52. “Roger thought it was amusing” Author interview with Lucianne Goldberg.

  53. It was all eerily reminiscent E. J. Dionne Jr., “Gary Hart: The Elusive Front-Runner,” New York Times, May 3, 1987. See also Robin Toner, “Hart Drops Race for White House in a Defiant Mood,” New York Times, May 9, 1987; E. J. Dionne Jr., “Courting Danger: The Fall of Gary Hart,” New York Times, May 9, 1987.

  54. Ailes envisioned Hume’s Sarah Goldstein, “The Wire Q&A: Ted Koppel Remembers the Iran Hostage Crisis,” “The Q” (blog), GQ, Nov. 3, 2009, http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2009/11/the-wire-qa-ted-koppel-remembers-the-iran-hostage-crisis.html.

  55. “We’re trying very hard” John Higgins and Donna Petrozzello, “Fox Chases the News,” Broadcasting & Cable, May 18, 1998.

  56. “The Clinton administration—they hated us!” Marshall Sella, “The Red-State Network: How Fox News Conquered Bush Country—and Toppled CNN,” New York Times Magazine, June 24, 2001.

  57. Launching Hume’s newscast “Around the Dial,” Boston Herald, Jan. 28, 1998.

  58. “How did it happen?” Bill O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Report, Fox News Channel, Oct. 7, 1996.

  59. “Few broadcasts take any chances these days” Ibid.

  60. His career began in Scranton “Bill O’Reilly’s Bio,” FoxNews.com, April 29, 2004, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155,00.html.

  61. In 1982, he was called up to the Bigs Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 100, 102, 124.

  62. “He would say” Author interview with journalist, producer, and television host Emily Rooney.

  63. At six-four Nicholas Lemann, “Fear Factor: Bill O’Reilly’s Baroque Period,” New Yorker, March 27, 2006.

  64. In one five-year period Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 102–22 passim.

  65. “He was always in trouble” Ibid., 163.

  66. In 1989, he bailed out Ibid., 135–36.

  67. “I’m not sure” Neil Swidey, “The Meanest Man on Television,” Boston Globe, Dec. 1, 2002.

  68. One evening he told Bill O’Reilly, “Two Year Anniversary Special,” The O’Reilly Report, Fox News Channel, Dec. 29, 1998

  69. “It’s important if the president of the United States” Ibid.

  70. “You guys wanted him out since Day One” Ibid.

  71. O’Reilly once remarked Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 166.

  72. “It was very basic” Ibid., 16.

  73. At prep school Evan Thomas, “Life of O’Reilly,” Newsweek, Feb. 11, 2001.

  74. At Marist College Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 33–42 passim.

  75. “I could
feel those rich girls” Thomas, “Life of O’Reilly.”

  76. “Bill O’Reilly is one” Author interview with Robert Ailes.

  77. Disgraced former Clinton adviser Richard L. Berke, “Call-Girl Story Costs President a Key Strategist,” New York Times, Aug. 30, 1996.

  78. “What do you want me to say?” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  79. In March 1998 Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, March 11, 1999.

  80. In April, Ailes hired David Bauder, “Dick Morris Joins Fox, Kinsley Back on CNN,” Associated Press, April 14, 1998.

  81. Several weeks later Tim Goodman, “Fox News Hires Drudge—You Decide,” San Francisco Examiner, July 23, 1998.

  82. “It’ll be me, a hat” Jennifer Weiner, “Foremost Internet Gossip Moves to TV,” Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1998.

  83. “Raymond Chandler detective’s office” Ibid.

  84. To complete the picture David Bauder, “Matt Drudge: Out from Behind the Laptop and onto TV,” Associated Press, June 25, 1998.

  85. In July, Ailes hired Weiner, “Foremost Internet Gossip Moves to TV.”

  86. The new lineup premiered “TV Ticker,” New York Post, July 27, 1998.

  87. On the evening of August 17 Ted Koppel, “Bill Clinton Admits Affair,” Nightline, ABC, Aug. 17, 1998, http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/bill-clinton-lewinksy-affair-1998-9533796.

  88. As Clinton’s presidency Josef Adalian and Richard Katz, “Presidents Day: Clinton Speech, TBS Pic Spike Cable Ratings,” Daily Variety, Aug. 19, 1998.

  89. “It’s all popping” Matt Drudge, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 17, 1998.

  90. “Which of the following” Fox News Sunday, Fox News Channel, Feb. 1, 1998.

  91. “What is President Clinton more thankful for” Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Nov. 26, 1998.

  92. In April 1998 Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, April 1, 1998.

  93. In another report Rita Cosby, Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, March 10, 1998.

  94. Some Fox viewers Joe Muto, An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal’s Eight-Year Odyssey Inside the Heart of the Right-Wing Media (New York: Dutton, 2013), 26.

  95. David Shuster was no longer Author interview with David Shuster.