“Bending With The Wind”

In a column titled “Rupert Murdoch, Bending With The Wind,” Tina Brown wonders: “Could the post-Katrina mood swing take the heat off the bellicose Fox News brand?”

She also opines about Roger Ailes: “During the Katrina crisis Fox has excelled at the basics of covering the story while toning down some of the political bluster. Ailes does not spend his day reading Rupert’s tea leaves, but if Bush continues to slump in the polls, a shift of gravity to the center — or any rate a lowering of the bullhorn — might ultimately serve his interests as well as Rupert’s. Being constantly tagged as a Bush stooge has become a drag for Ailes, whose success at Fox owes more to his inventive TV gifts than to Republican positioning.”