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Murphy Martin Commentary
October 5, 2006
"FOX Controls on Tenth Birthday"
Just ten short years ago a native of Warren, Ohio was described as
"the amusingly ferocious Republican media genius" and a "pit-bull
Republican media strategist turned television tycoon." He earned
most of such titles for his tenacious work as Richard Nixon's
executive television producer; then as consultant to Ronald Reagan
in 1984; and, in 1988 his work with George Bush guided him to a
come-from-behind win over Michael Dukakis. But just ten years ago
this man started something that has millions of people in this
country debating every day.
The man is Roger Ailes and what he started was Fox News Channel, the
cable news source called "too conservative" by most liberals, and,
"fair and balanced" by
most conservatives in America.
This week, USA-Today, quoted Roger Ailes from a recent dinner party
where he was asked: "Isn't Fox News too conservative?" Ailes said he
asked the man: "Are you comfortable with CNN?" The man said, "Yes."
"How about CBS, ABC, NBC?" "Absolutely!"
" What about The New York Times, The
Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times?" Fine. "What about
National Public Radio and PBS?" "Very good."
Ailes then said " so the little cable channel is making you crazy?
If all the media tipped to the right, I'd probably be the biggest
liberal. But, you've got to have debate!"
And debate we have. Ailes Fox News Channel now doubles the CNN
audience which is a distant second and MSNBC is an also ran. And the
Big Dog at the Fox News nightly watch is Bill O'Reilly. a former
staff member at WFAA-TV in Dallas. His nightly audience is near the
two-million mark. The average audience from 6A.M. until 11P.M. on
Fox is 870,00 viewers. CNN has only 448,000 while MSNBC garners only
270,000.
While these numbers are big, they fall short of numbers a year ago
when the major catastrophic story of Katrina was keeping viewers
glued to their sets. And, there are some who feel cable may be
reaching it's peak in numbers of viewers. The Web is becoming a
bigger player.
But with names like Sean Hannity, Brit Hume, Shepard Smith, Greta
Van Susteren to go along with O'Reilly, don't sell Roger Ailes
short. He will not be paid nearly $16-million this year in salary,
bonus and stock options to rest on his laurels.
The wheels are always turning as Ailes looks to the future. Although
it was not planned to fuel the Fox fires burning in liberal's
attitude toward Fox News Channel, Former President Bill Clinton
shaking his finger in Chris Wallace's face during that interview the
other day led Roger Ailes to say: "The only thing Chris didn't do is
lay down like some other networks did" when they focused on what
Clinton wanted to talk about: humanitarian efforts through its
global initiative.
It seems that there is one thing upon which most Fox supporters and
detractors can agree: the Fox success can be traced to Roger Ailes.
USA-Today visited Ailes second floor office in New York City last
week. They got lots of stories about how and why Fox has succeeded.
One statement he made sums it up for me. Ailes asked:" Does anybody
think Katie Couric, the new CBS-TV dinner-hour anchor, would have a
segment called 'Free Speech' if it wasn't for Fox News?" And Ailes
said Lou Dobbs, the former CNN business editor turned to hot-button
debates such as illegal immigration after he "took one look at Bill
O'Reilly and said "this guy is shooting his mouth off about what
people really care about. I can do that." (Both CBS and Dobbs
reportedly deny Fox had any role in their decisions).
Roger Ailes also says Fox News is probably more conservative than
other television news outlets, but only because it has consistently
given equal voice to people whom mainstream media ignored if not
disdained: conservatives! Liberals "hate us for coming on the scene
and changing the game and making people look at both sides of the
issues!"
Happy 10th Birthday Fox News Channel--you seem good for what Ailes a
lot of Americans!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
Previous commentaries:
"Clinton Points
Finger Again"
"U.N. Nuclear
Sparring"
"SRO for Latest
Hall of Famer"
"Katie's Back,
Legs and All!"
"Will T.O. Ride
Bicycle Or Tricycle?"
"Couric News
Carousel Approaching"
"George Was Not
First"
"Cowboy's
Control Canton"
"Despite
Unfinished Business, Congress Takes a Vacation"
"Reality Television Rolls on Sunday"
"The President Speaks His Mind"
"The World Around Us"
"Birthday Time Again"
"Presidents -- Past and Present"
"Expensive Babies"
"Change of Pace"
"Yesterday Katie Said Goodbye to Today"
"Musical Chairs Continue at ABC-TV"
"No Quick
Support for Bush Plan"
"Moussaoui
Meeting with Virgins Delayed"
"What the Hell Happened?"
"His Name is Still Magic"
"The Tallest Pine is Gone"
"Keeping America Free"
"Remembering"
"Christians vs Muslims"
"Bush Bucks Bashing"
"Early Look at 2008"
"Contrasting Memories"
"Reporter's Rough Roads"
"Another Cowboys Loss"
"People, Places and Things"
"Super Bowl Wasn't So Super"
"State of the Union"
"Is God Dead in Europe?"
"Remembering Dr. King"
"This Week in Review"
"New Year, New Challenges"
"The Party's Over"
"Democracy in the Middle East"
"Unfinished Business"
"Merry
Christmas Rules"
"Bush
Unveils Plans"
"Today is Special"
"Border
Security Now!!!"
"Stupidity Loses Financing"
"Crisis Christians"
"They
Led the Way"
"Sadistic Saddam Hussein"
"Bourbon Street Bashing"
"Hurricane Aftermath"
"Standing Tall"
"Never a Dull Moment"
"Another Hero Laid to Rest"
"Blame Game"
"Senior Thoughts For the Young"
"Role Model Challenge"
August 18 - "Network News Anchors"
August 11 - "Now All Three Are Gone"
August 4 - "Trust in the Media"
July 28 - "Television Then and Now"
July 21 - "The Mick"
July 14 - "Forty Years and Counting"
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