The Fox-Murdoch Feud

[babylonsister]

The Fox-Murdoch Feud

by Lloyd Grove

Rupert’s son in law fired a rocket at Fox News boss Roger Ailes—the first salvo in an escalating war between Murdoch’s heirs and the company brass for the future of one of media’s hottest enterprises.


The long-simmering feud between Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch’s adult children has finally erupted into full-scale war—a death struggle over the future of News Corporation, the financially beleaguered media and entertainment conglomerate that the 78-year-old Murdoch continues to control as chairman and chief executive.

The first shot—really a nuclear device—was fired today on The New York Times’ web site by British public-relations executive Matthew Freud, Murdoch’s son-in-law. Freud’s on-the-record quote, for a front-page profile of the 69-year-old Ailes, who launched and runs News Corp.’s most profitable division, is stunning in its condemnation—a frontal attack on Ailes and an apparent attempt to force News Corp.’s founder to choose between blood and money, between his progeny and his most prized executive.

“I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,” Freud told the Times. A News Corp. spokesperson fired back: “Matthew Freud's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News.”

A spokesman for Ailes, who in a previous career was a brass-knuckled Republican media consultant who toiled for Presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, had no response today to Freud’s charges. But a News Corp. insider told me the pugnacious Ailes, a self-made son of the working class who was paid $23 million last year, more than Rupert himself, is probably enraged at Freud and plotting his revenge. “Ailes would kill him if he thought he could get away with it,” the insider told me.

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-09/the-fox-murdoch-feud/?cid=hp:mainpromo3

[blogslut]

1. What a hostile, paranoid, self-centered man - Roger Ailes

From the NYT article:

...National security had long been a preoccupation of Fox News, and it was clear in the interview that the 9/11 attacks had a profound effect on Mr. Ailes. They convinced him that he and his network could be terrorist targets.

On the day of the attacks, Mr. Ailes asked his chief engineer the minimum number of workers needed to keep the channel on the air. The answer: 42. “I am one of them,” he said. “I’ve got a bad leg, I’m a little overweight, so I can’t run fast, but I will fight.

~snip~

His movements now are shadowed by a phalanx of corporate-provided security. He travels to and from work in a miniature convoy of two sport utility vehicles. A camera on his desk displays the comings and goings outside his office, where he usually keeps the blinds drawn.

Mr. Ailes said he received frequent threats over the years, but his concerns for the safety of his family were heightened by an incident at his New Jersey home after the 9/11 attacks. There was an intruder on his property, but no arrest was made. In Putnam County, he has bought several properties surrounding his home. A sign outside his house shows an illustration of a gun and advises visitors that it is under video surveillance...

link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/media/10ailes.html?pagewanted=2&hp

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

10. The answer: 42

I wonder if Ailes got the joke.

[clixtox]

2. The heirs have every right to be disgusted by Faux News...

flaunting of journalistic ethics.

They may also be concerned about their karma, justifiably...

[Ken Burch]

3. doesn't "Adult Children Of Rupert Murdoch" sound like the world's bleakest support group?

[SalmonChantedEvening]

8. ROFL

I think I just lost a rib :rofl:

Thank you. ::D

[Ken Burch]

9. No charge.

n/t.

[Orsino]

4. Bullshit. Crocodile tears.

Fox' contempt for journalism is part of how Murdoch got so goddamned wealthy. Whatever this alleged feud is about, it isn't journalism.

[SpiralHawk]

6. Republicons with their diapers in a kink

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Best quote.

“I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to,” Freud told the Times.

Equivalent to Pulitzer criticizing Hearst for lack of journalism.

[Pirate Smile]

7. The article emphasized what a Nixon, Republican operative he is and a paranoid freak with a

with a perpetual chip on his shoulder and martyr/victim complex.

[UTUSN]

11. Also here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7433355

[KharmaTrain]

12. And The Other Networks Are Salivating...

This story has been percolating for quite a while. While I have no idea what Murdoch's kids politics are, there have been several who have been outspoken about Ailes and the black eye Faux Noise makes for the company on the whole. Rupert ignores it as he's making money and that's all that matters, but each day is one closer to Rupert's dirt nap and the vultures are circling tighter and tighter.

The problem Faux faces is not just who takes over or if there will be a family fight over the corporate assets as well as who will have the levers of power. Rupert hasn't made it clear and appears in no hurry. Then there are stockholders who will have a big say in the company's future...to keep it as one or break it apart.

So what we're seeing is a turf war that has been long simmering within the Murdoch empire that appears to be the prelude to some fun times once Rupert goes toes up.

Stay tuned...

[Ikonoklast]

13. Seems like the Fox catering to the Teabagger Nutjobs was the final straw.

Fox is rapidly becoming a parody of a bad joke, and the heirs want to remain in business for a while.