Roger Ailes, who founded and built news powerhouse Fox News, died today at the age of 77. No one has released a cause of death. His wife released this statement via CNBC:
In a statement to Drudge Report, his wife Elizabeth Ailes said, “I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning. Roger was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many. He was also a patriot, profoundly grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise—and to give back. During a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment, in politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions. And so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life…”
Ailes worked as a political consultant and producer in the 1960s and 1970s, which is when he started to formulate ideas for what would eventually become Fox News. From CNN Money:
Long before Fox News, Ailes was a Republican operative who saw long before most what television could do for the party.As an aide to President Richard Nixon in 1970, he prepared a 300-page memo titled, “A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News.””Today television news is watched more often than people read newspapers, than people listen to the radio, than people read or gather any other form of communication,” the memo read. “The reason: People are lazy. With television you just sit — watch — listen. The thinking is done for you.”
But a lot of his ideas for Fox News came from Joseph Coors, the beer magnate, “who in 1974 asked him to be the news director at Television News Inc., a network that supplied free video to local stations to inject conservative content into broadcasts.” But it shut down in less than a year. That station’s slogan “fair and balanced” became the infamous slogan of Fox News.
In the 1990s, Ailes left his post as president of CNBC to create Fox News.
Ailes lost his job as CEO and Chairman of Fox News when former anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment, which gave other females the courage to also come forward. He sent this resignation letter:
Former anchor Megyn Kelly detailed sexual harassment she endured from Ailes in her memoir released last November.
Of course those on the left have immediately jumped on his death.
Ben Shapiro with the mic drop:
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