The Fall of Roger Ailes
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Most have grown tired of the Roger Ailes story and the Fox News CEO's fall from grace.
Fox News ratings continue to climb and the loudest voice in the room is no longer Roger Ailes'.
But, for those that still want to know more on the fall of the FNC kingpin, Vanity Fair is out with a long article.
The story starts with Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit in July 6th and ends with Ailes leaving Fox News on July 21st.
The story gives a good order of how the Ailes firing went down and who played what role. As the lawyers from Paul, Weiss moved on with their investigation, it was clear that Ailes was toast.
Vanity Fair writes, a 21st Century Fox executive recalls Rupert saying late that week, after he had heard multiple reports from the investigation, “I think we know where this is going.” Meanwhile, Roger Ailes was increasingly stung by Megyn Kelly’s continuing public silence. According to an executive familiar with the matter, after reporters asked Fox News’s spokesperson, Irena Briganti, why Kelly had not said a word in support of Ailes, Ailes wanted Briganti to issue a pointed, nasty comment: “Everyone has the right to remain silent.” Briganti never put out such a statement and advised that no response was the best response. According to the executive, Beth Ailes, who was in the office daily, advocated attacking Kelly through friendly media outlets, such as Breitbart News. She also asked Todd Starnes, a conservative columnist and Fox News radio host, to write a blog post about Kelly’s public silence. (He never did.) Roger Ailes told his core group of advisers several times that week that there needed to be more negative stories about Carlson. (Ailes’s lawyer Susan Estrich strongly disputed this narrative but provided no specific factual correction.)
