New York magazine names the most influential people in media, and genius Fox News chief Roger Ailes is there:
Roger Ailes: Chairman and CEO, Fox News Channel; chairman, Fox Television Stations
Ailes’s Fox News Channel is the preeminent news organization of George W. Bush’s America. He brought the brash, outspoken, unabashedly right-wing sensibility of talk radio (and of Ailes himself) to TV, with vast and continuing commercial success. So dominant is FNC that nine of the ten most-watched cable-news shows air on Fox. Its ties to the Bush White House (remember that Fox was the first to declare Bush the victor in 2000) are strong enough that commentator Tony Snow was named press secretary, and a journalist complained that the TVs on Air Force One are tuned only to FNC. Ailes’s dominion keeps expanding: Last year, he wrested control of Fox’s television stations—News Corp.’s biggest cash-flow generator—from wayward heir Lachlan Murdoch. Also, inadvertently created Stephen Colbert.
News Corp giant Rupert Murdoch is named for his unparalled scope and influence:
It’s Rupert’s World, You’re just watching, reading, listening, surfing, and singing karaoke in it.
You get up early and switch on Fox News for Your World With Neil Cavuto and catch the end of an O’Reilly Factor repeat; he’s hawking “The Spin Stops Here” golf balls. Flip to Good Day New York, then grab the Post for the subway—check out that “Page Six” item on The Simple Life. At work, update your MySpace page, search for a better job at SimplyHired.com, then pop to the newsstand for the Times of London, the Sun (National Rugby League scores—sweet!), and the Weekly Standard (to see what Tony Snow’s White House pals are thinking). Your FoxSports.com Fantasy Football draft is coming up—study the prospects at Scout.com. Then chat with the cute sales rep from HarperCollins about How I Met Your Mother (using flirting tips from AskMen.com; so much better than The Game). Say, maybe she wants to catch a film: How about The Sentinel? Meh—RottenTomatoes.com says it’s a poor man’s 24. So you head home alone—you need to catch up on The Shield anyway. Too bad your DirectTV’s been acting up—it didn’t record M*A*S*H or Boston Legal. Your buddies in England and India never have problems with BSkyB Or Star. You could always rent a flick: Napoleon Dynamite or Alien? Though you should finish Freakonomics, and Mom’s been pushing The Purpose-Driven Life. But you can’t put down Nicole Richie’s The Truth About Diamonds! Finish it, then surf IGN.com for dirt on next summer’s Halo movie. Whoa, there’s a Website that lets you do karaoke online! Then check the TV Guide Channel: Hey, a Buffy rerun on Channel 9! Wait: Isn’t tonight a new episode of American Idol? D’oh!
