Fox News CEO Roger Ailes seems to think so. Or is this purely a red herring since the news channel is largely known for shouting heads Bill O’Reilly, Pundit Sarah Palin, and mean-spirited minotaur, Sean Hannity. Yeah, none of these people seems primed to take a more centrist viewpoint. However, according to Ailes, he is quietly repositioning the cable-news channel.
What exactly does this mean?
In an interview with Newsweek Ailes outlines how he’s been “pulling back on the throttle” in the last year. He’s calling it a “course correction” that involved calling out Glenn Beck and saying that his ranting and raving became a bit of a branding issue for the network, even to say that he didn’t mind if people believed the Overton Window author was fired from the network. Whoaa. Does this actually mean that the crazed blowhard might have actually been given the proverbial boot based upon his inflammatory rhetoric and much despised theatrics? Last April, HuffPost reported that Ailes’ comments about Beck seemed to hint that perhaps the CEO just got sick of the shenanigans.
“We felt Glenn brought additional information, a unique perspective, a certain amount of passion and insight to the channel and he did,” Ailes said. “But that story of what’s going on and why America is in trouble today, I think he told that story as well as could be told. Whether you can just keep telling that story or not … we’re not so sure.”
Not exactly a smoking gun, but it says enough that Ailes maybe believed Beck was no longer benefiting the network. He further states dismissively about Beck, “He’s a performer, I’m a journalist.” (HA! Ok.)
Some may say that the catalyst happened in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting in January, when many called for a “toning down” of the rhetoric. Interestingly, this is just what Ailes promised Russell Simmons in an interview published on Simmons’ website, Global Grind where he said he issued a warning to the Fox News staff.
“I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually,” Ailes said. You don’t have to do it with bombast. I hope the other side does that.”
Apparently, this included Tea Party Harpy Sarah Palin who after the shooting made that ridiculous blood libel video wherein she claimed her innocence of accusations her crosshairs map fueled the animosity that led to Giffords’ shooting. Ailes counseled Palin not to make the video, but since harpies rarely listen to anyone but the screeching between their own ears, Palin went ahead, and thusly caused a bit of a rift between herself and Ailes, which in his view led to the additional “course correction” of reducing the promotion of Palin as the GOP’s potential savior. A good thing for the nation, or just sour grapes about an ignored directive?
But really, aside from a few sound bites that appear to make sense — Glenn Beck is a crazy billy goat dressed in man-skin hell bent on linking every dastardly thing done since the dawn of time to Obama — and Sarah Palin, this Alaskan government quitter, bus-riding, political shill — isn’t a real titan of discourse — so disengaging them both from your demigod glow wasn’t any real achievement.
What say you, Ailes about the various other factions that make your news channel the equivalent to a nightly intellectual root canal? Newsweek reports that this magnanimous change is evident in Ailes’ recent scheming during the republican presidential debates by looking for ways to “trap” the candidates. For instance, cheering on Chris Wallace in saying that he would aim at Rick Perry’s weakness by throwing a bone to Santorum and asking if Perry’s too soft. Really, Ailes, this is your way of leveling the field? That sounds to me like you’re just gunning for better ratings, and perhaps a little more meat for the television audience.
In a predictable, self-congratulatory way, Ailes believes that this little show conjured “the sight of his anchors grilling the Republican contenders, which pleased the White House but cuts sharply against the network’s conservative image-and risks alienating its most rabid right-wing fans.” Oh, sure. All these namby-pamby softball debate antics alienated the blood hungry, death panel that calls themselves the Tea Party, or those rabid right-wing fans he spoke of. Sure it did.
Mostly though, Ailes can call all of his anchors names in the “lamestream media,” like how he refers to Bill O’Reilly as “jealous”, and calls Hannity “predictable,” but how is this unlike what Fox News does best…putting out an idea but never following it up with real facts or tangible evidence? If they’re all a bunch of pedestrian losers and outdated right-wing puppets fire them all and remake your channel from the ground up.
Sure, Ailes, you can be Harvey Levin spouting all kinds of gossip about the people you surround yourself with, and for whom you wouldn’t have a career, but it is another thing entirely to make some real changes in how you do things.
Hilariously, HuffPost reports that Ailes wants Bill and Hillary Clinton to join Fox News. I think this is akin to Levin wanting Angelina and Brad to announce their marriage/breakup/cheating/nightly knife fights on his television show.
Not gonna happen.
