Roger Ailes

Just a little more than a week ago, military affairs journalist Tom Ricks outraged the right-wing faithful by saying that Fox News Channel obsessed on the terrorist attack on Benghazi, Libya, in part because the station “was operating as a wing of the Republican Party.” Oh the rudeness! The gall! The sheer outrage it took for one of America's most honored reporters on military affairs to suggest, while a guest on Fox News, that Fox News was not quite on the up-and-up.

Just a little more than a week ago, military affairs journalist Tom Ricks outraged the right-wing faithful by saying that Fox News Channel obsessed on the terrorist attack on Benghazi, Libya, in part because the station “was operating as a wing of the Republican Party.” Oh the rudeness! The gall! The sheer outrage it took for one of America's most honored reporters on military affairs to suggest, while a guest on Fox News, that Fox News was not quite on the up-and-up.

It was Roger Ailes who came up with the slogan "First in Business News" for CNBC when he was running the channel. Now, he's determined to knock it into second place. Ailes is a key architect of News Corp.'s new Fox Business Network. The channel, which is scheduled to launch Oct. 15, helped drive media mogul Rupert Murdoch's pursuit of Dow Jones & Co. News Corp. won its $5-billion bid for the company, which owns the Wall Street Journal, this week.

You remember Karl Rove: He's the Republican strategist and Fox News contributor who made television history last month when he refused to accept that President Obama had won the state of Ohio and effectively clinched the entire election, leading to a showdown between Megyn Kelly and the behind-the-scenes statisticians on the network's “Decision Desk.” If a report out Wednesday from Gabriel Sherman at New York magazine is to be believed,...

Barry McCAFFREY was angrily shouting in the hallways at Fox News Channel. McCaffrey, the Gulf War general who served as President Clinton's drug czar, had been invited to discuss America's war on illegal drugs for the 1996 premiere of "The O'Reilly Report," a Fox talk show hosted by Bill O'Reilly.

The new book "Bush at War," by Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, says Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes offered advice to President Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Ailes is a former media advisor to Bush's father and other prominent Republicans, but he said he left politics when he took the job at the Fox News Channel. According to a report that ran Saturday in the Post, Ailes sent his memo to Bush senior advisor Karl Rove, who took it to the president.

In the latest challenge to CNN, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch outlined plans for a new 24-hour news channel he said will be launched by the end of the year. Murdoch said Roger Ailes, the former president of NBC's CNBC cable network, will be chief executive for the channel and will also oversee Fox News, the news division of News Corp.'s Fox TV network.

Roger Ailes, the savvy and hard-charging television executive who transformed the Fox News Channel from an upstart enterprise to the top-rated cable news network, sealed a deal Wednesday to remain in his post for another five years. Ailes' new contract extends the key role he plays in News Corp. as chief executive of Fox News and chairman of the Fox Television Stations. "Roger has done a remarkable job building Fox News into a force in journalism," News Corp.

People who know Roger Ailes only as a tough media strategist for Republican candidates may have been surprised when he was named president last month of CNBC, NBC's business-and-talk cable channel. Sure, these days he's the executive producer of Rush Limbaugh's syndicated TV series, but what they didn't realize is that he'd also been a television producer before he was in politics. And the skills he brings to one job apply to the other, he points out.

You remember Karl Rove: He's the Republican strategist and Fox News contributor who made television history last month when he refused to accept that President Obama had won the state of Ohio and effectively clinched the entire election, leading to a showdown between Megyn Kelly and the behind-the-scenes statisticians on the network's “Decision Desk.” If a report out Wednesday from Gabriel Sherman at New York magazine is to be believed,...

Fox News always dominates in its competition against CNN and MSNBC, but last week the cable channel managed the unusual feat of beating all other cable networks in viewers, including juggernauts ESPN, USA and TBS. In prime time, Fox News averaged almost 3.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That was almost a million more than ESPN averaged. Fox News also won the total day crown with an average of 1.66 million viewers, nipping kids channel Nickelodeon, which averaged 1.63 million viewers.

NBCUniversal has tapped E. McRate "Mac" Budill as president of TV Networks Distribution. He succeeds Bridget Baker who resigned last week. The post is a key one for NBCUniversal. Budill will be responsible for negotiating distribution agreements for the media company's array of cable networks including USA, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC Sports Channel and the Golf Channel. Budill will also handle retransmission consent negotiations for the broadcast stations owned by NBC and its Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes has signed on for another four years. The new employment agreement, announced Friday by parent company News Corp., will keep Ailes at the controls of one of the television's company's most successful divisions through the 2016 presidential election.  In addition to serving as chairman and chief executive of the top-rated Fox News, Ailes also oversees the company's 27 television stations, Twentieth Television syndication,...

Despite a reputation tarnished by his handling of an extended phone hacking scandal in Britain, James Murdoch is preparing to step into a prominent U.S. role running much of News Corp.'s vast and profitable American based television operations, according to people familiar with the plans. James Murdoch, the 39-year-old son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is expected to take charge of the Fox broadcast network, FX cable channel, regional sports networks, Fox International channels and National Geographic channels - some of the most profitable assets in the $34 billion-a-year media conglomerate.

After the coffee. Before deciding if I need the new Kindle. The Skinny: In yet another sign that I'm getting old (as if I needed it), last night was the first time in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards that I didn't tune in for one second. What I won't do is now write a story saying the show is passe because I'm no longer the target audience. Friday's headlines include a grim look at the weekend box office, new contract talks for Fox News chief Roger Ailes, and Christopher Nolan being caught up in a fight between two big Hollywood talent agencies.

Is Sarah Palin on the outs at Fox News? You betcha , says New York magazine. According to Fox-watcher Gabriel Sherman, Palin is in the early stages of renegotiating her lucrative contract as a contributor to the network, where she earns a reported $1 million a year for occasional guest appearances on shows like “On the Record” and “Hannity.” Palin's current deal makes her the network's highest-paid contributor, but she may not...

Fox News always dominates in its competition against CNN and MSNBC, but last week the cable channel managed the unusual feat of beating all other cable networks in viewers, including juggernauts ESPN, USA and TBS. In prime time, Fox News averaged almost 3.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That was almost a million more than ESPN averaged. Fox News also won the total day crown with an average of 1.66 million viewers, nipping kids channel Nickelodeon, which averaged 1.63 million viewers.

NBCUniversal has tapped E. McRate "Mac" Budill as president of TV Networks Distribution. He succeeds Bridget Baker who resigned last week. The post is a key one for NBCUniversal. Budill will be responsible for negotiating distribution agreements for the media company's array of cable networks including USA, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC Sports Channel and the Golf Channel. Budill will also handle retransmission consent negotiations for the broadcast stations owned by NBC and its Spanish-language network Telemundo.

After visiting Ellis Island in New York on Wednesday, Sarah Palin swung by the midtown Manhattan headquarters of Fox News, where she met with senior executives, including network chief Roger Ailes. It's unclear whether network officials pressed Palin on her political intentions during the drop-by. The channel did not share any details of the meeting, except to release a statement from Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming, who said: "Right now there is no change in her status with Fox News.

Completing a swift rise and fall from TV stardom, controversial host Glenn Beck will lose his once-popular Fox News show later this year, the network announced Wednesday. Beck's 5 p.m. program, which earned scorn from liberals for its attacks on President Obama as well as its devotion to sometimes-obscure right-wing thinkers, was a top cable draw in 2009 and a signpost for the populist "tea party" movement in last year's midterm elections, which dealt a ballot-box rebuke to the White House.