Roger Ailes Responds to Critics in Newsweek

By Alex Weprin 

There have been a pair of feature stories about Roger Ailes in the past weeks. There was the New York magazine piece, which said that Ailes was not too fond of one of his star contributors, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Then there was the Rolling Stone article which said that Ailes personally gives talking points to the “F0x & Friends” morning show hosts.

Today, Ailes speaks to Newsweek’s Howard Kurtz, where he more or less responds to every criticism levied against him in the articles.

With regard to Palin, Ailes recalls giving her and her daughter a tour of the Fox studios when she visited New York last week:

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Denying a New York magazine report that he called the former Alaska governor an idiot, Ailes marveled at the frenzy surrounding her tour of historic sites: “She’s so smart she’s got the press corps running up the whole East Coast behind her bus.”

On Glenn Beck, who signs off from FNC in two weeks, Ailes says “his goals were different from our goals… I need people focused on a daily television show.”

Ailes also reiterated what he told TVNewser last week regarding “Fox & Friends”:

Ailes says he sometimes discusses issues with the Fox & Friends hosts but laughs at the notion he hands them talking points. As for Rolling Stone’s charge that he has “built the most formidable propaganda machine ever seen outside of the Communist bloc,” Ailes does a bit of jujitsu, accusing NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, and the rest of running “a liberal propaganda machine … If they did fair and balanced news, we’d be out of business.”

Ailes also talks which Democratic politicians he likes, as well as Glenn Beck. Read the full interview here.

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