Check out this great Worldscreen.com interview with Fox News chief and genius Roger Ailes--the man who put "Fair & Balanced" on the radar screen, much to the screaming distress of FNC's competitors...read on:
WS: What impact has FOX News had on the rest of the television news landscape and do you think viewers are now better served?
AILES: Clearly they are better served, otherwise we would have no ratings.....When we launched and we said we were fair and balanced, an NBC executive called me and started screaming, “How dare you say you are fair and balanced? That implies that we are not.” And I said, “It’s not my fault that you have been in the news business for 50 years and never thought of those two words. Now suddenly they are on your radar screen, so that is good.” We’ve been an addition to information to the American people, and we have been an irritant to some of our competitors, both of which I’m proud of.
WS: How do you respond to the criticism that there is a conservative bias to FOX News?
AILES: Bias is not what you say; it’s what you eliminate. We don’t eliminate anybody. Everybody gets equal time. They do eliminate a conservative voice at many of these other networks, therefore we appear to be more conservative, because we treat the conservative point of view with as much respect as we treat the liberal point of view....we allow our opinion people to attack whomever they want and say whatever they want, including our own company from time to time, including our own news channel. Even I’ve been attacked on our air!
WS: How did that feel?
AILES: You know what? That’s all right. They’ve got guts. One guy came in here and said, “I’m going to have to attack you.” I think he thought I was going to fire him on the spot. And I just said, “I know where you live!” I’ve been around 30 years, and I’ve never not had some attack at some time. It goes with the territory.
