A 2012 memo circulated inside Fox News under then-chairman Roger Ailes provides a glimpse into the extensive research done into the life of Gabriel Sherman, the New York Magazine reporter who has written extensively about the network, and who authored a book on Ailes.
The memo was obtained by CNN from anonymous sources, and includes “property records, voters registration information, and a note that the researchers could find no criminal record for Sherman.” The memo did include the reporter’s current and past addresses, and details of his mortgage.
The CNN report describes the memo–running to 400 pages and addressed to “interested parties”–as having “all the markings of ‘opposition research’ about a political enemy.” The network’s public relations department suggested any research on reporters was not produced at the PR team’s direction:
“The Fox News PR department was never involved in conducting or executing any opposition research against Gabe Sherman,” she said in a statement. “It’s been widely reported that there was a separate team not associated with PR which conducted extensive operations unbeknownst to anyone whose official job was to deal with the press.”
Ailes’ attorney, Susan Estrich, did not respond to a request for comment.