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| Roger Ailes, a TV Titan at the Peak of His Power, Hits the End of His Path | Roger Ailes, a TV Titan at the Peak of His Power, Hits the End of His Path |
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| CLEVELAND — Donald J. Trump’s coronation as the Republican nominee for president Tuesday night was a signal accomplishment not only for the candidate, but also for the man who commands the most important control room in American politics: the Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. | CLEVELAND — Donald J. Trump’s coronation as the Republican nominee for president Tuesday night was a signal accomplishment not only for the candidate, but also for the man who commands the most important control room in American politics: the Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. |
| Mr. Trump’s convention has been a triumph for Mr. Ailes’s brand of smash-mouth and “politically incorrect” politics — with speakers, themes, rhetoric and, ultimately, a nominee who is far more at home on the set of Fox News than in the establishment halls of Congress, the Republican National Committee or The Weekly Standard. It is, in a way, the most Fox News-y convention in the network’s history. | Mr. Trump’s convention has been a triumph for Mr. Ailes’s brand of smash-mouth and “politically incorrect” politics — with speakers, themes, rhetoric and, ultimately, a nominee who is far more at home on the set of Fox News than in the establishment halls of Congress, the Republican National Committee or The Weekly Standard. It is, in a way, the most Fox News-y convention in the network’s history. |
| But just as party delegates were nominating Mr. Trump at their convention here, Mr. Ailes’s career at the network was unraveling, with news that he was negotiating the details of his departure with his bosses at 21st Century Fox. A copy of what was purported to be a proposed set of settlement terms even leaked into public view, fittingly, on the Drudge Report. | But just as party delegates were nominating Mr. Trump at their convention here, Mr. Ailes’s career at the network was unraveling, with news that he was negotiating the details of his departure with his bosses at 21st Century Fox. A copy of what was purported to be a proposed set of settlement terms even leaked into public view, fittingly, on the Drudge Report. |
| In 20 years at the helm of his news network, Mr. Ailes helped lead the movement he is so closely associated with to a sociopolitical promised land, in a year in which Fox News had some of its highest ratings ever. | In 20 years at the helm of his news network, Mr. Ailes helped lead the movement he is so closely associated with to a sociopolitical promised land, in a year in which Fox News had some of its highest ratings ever. |
| But just as Mr. Ailes reached the peak of the mountain, he hit the end of his own path, at least at Fox News. His future has been in doubt since a former Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him two weeks ago. | But just as Mr. Ailes reached the peak of the mountain, he hit the end of his own path, at least at Fox News. His future has been in doubt since a former Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him two weeks ago. |
| Fox News’s political power, and therefore that of Mr. Ailes, is often overstated: They are not kingmakers. But they often dictate the terms and themes of the Republican debate, often by relentlessly driving home — day after day, night after night — the sort of hot-button narratives that have dominated the convention stage: “All lives matter,” Hillary Clinton’s alleged failings in the murderous attack in Benghazi, the need for a big wall on the border with Mexico or the tactics of the activist Saul Alinsky. | |
| Throughout his career as both a top national political strategist and a television executive, Mr. Ailes has exhibited an unmatched ability to tap into the resentments and insecurities of white working-class Americans who acutely feel the effects of a changing country. Those are the people Mr. Trump has so successfully courted this year, and Mr. Ailes has an uncanny sense of how to reach them through television. | Throughout his career as both a top national political strategist and a television executive, Mr. Ailes has exhibited an unmatched ability to tap into the resentments and insecurities of white working-class Americans who acutely feel the effects of a changing country. Those are the people Mr. Trump has so successfully courted this year, and Mr. Ailes has an uncanny sense of how to reach them through television. |
| Part of it goes back to Mr. Ailes’s Ohio roots as a son of factory foreman, a boy who dug ditches as a teenager but then went on to work his way up from the bottom in broadcasting. He got his big break in television as the executive producer of “The Mike Douglas Show.” | Part of it goes back to Mr. Ailes’s Ohio roots as a son of factory foreman, a boy who dug ditches as a teenager but then went on to work his way up from the bottom in broadcasting. He got his big break in television as the executive producer of “The Mike Douglas Show.” |
| His political career started there, when Richard Nixon appeared as one of Mr. Douglas’s guests. The two hit it off as Mr. Ailes urged Mr. Nixon to embrace television as the ultimate way to move the masses, and he went on to become Mr. Nixon’s media guru. | His political career started there, when Richard Nixon appeared as one of Mr. Douglas’s guests. The two hit it off as Mr. Ailes urged Mr. Nixon to embrace television as the ultimate way to move the masses, and he went on to become Mr. Nixon’s media guru. |
| He went on to serve several of the nation’s most consequential Republican politicians, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush, for whom Mr. Ailes sharpened the devastating attack against his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as soft on crime. | He went on to serve several of the nation’s most consequential Republican politicians, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush, for whom Mr. Ailes sharpened the devastating attack against his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as soft on crime. |
| It was impossible to walk around this convention without bumping into a former Ailes client. One of them, Rudolph W. Giuliani, even provided one of the bigger moments of the first night of the convention, delivering a “colorblind” message about race and policing in the Black Lives Matter era, the same kind of message that has frequently been aired in Fox News programs. | It was impossible to walk around this convention without bumping into a former Ailes client. One of them, Rudolph W. Giuliani, even provided one of the bigger moments of the first night of the convention, delivering a “colorblind” message about race and policing in the Black Lives Matter era, the same kind of message that has frequently been aired in Fox News programs. |
| “The conservative movement deserves to give Roger Ailes a lot of credit for the work that he did in helping candidates and founding Fox News and giving conservatives a voice in this country,” said another of his clients roaming the convention hall, Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa. | “The conservative movement deserves to give Roger Ailes a lot of credit for the work that he did in helping candidates and founding Fox News and giving conservatives a voice in this country,” said another of his clients roaming the convention hall, Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa. |
| But Mr. Ailes has always made it clear he wants his legacy to be what he built at Fox News, though one former political adversary, the former Obama adviser David Axelrod, said he brought the same skills to both. | But Mr. Ailes has always made it clear he wants his legacy to be what he built at Fox News, though one former political adversary, the former Obama adviser David Axelrod, said he brought the same skills to both. |
| “Roger Ailes created a network that speaks to Americans he had targeted effectively for decades as a Republican media consultant,” Mr. Axelrod said on Tuesday night. He called Mr. Ailes “brilliant” and “visionary.” But he also said, “The rise of Fox News has corresponded with an era of rising polarization in our politics.” | “Roger Ailes created a network that speaks to Americans he had targeted effectively for decades as a Republican media consultant,” Mr. Axelrod said on Tuesday night. He called Mr. Ailes “brilliant” and “visionary.” But he also said, “The rise of Fox News has corresponded with an era of rising polarization in our politics.” |
| Mr. Ailes brilliantly packaged his network as “Fair and balanced,” an antidote for what he described as a liberally biased mediasphere. But it also became a catchphrase for a brand of journalism that at times — especially during Fox’s opinion lineup in prime time — formed an ideological cocoon for a version of the news that was at odds with the mainstream reports it sought to discredit. | Mr. Ailes brilliantly packaged his network as “Fair and balanced,” an antidote for what he described as a liberally biased mediasphere. But it also became a catchphrase for a brand of journalism that at times — especially during Fox’s opinion lineup in prime time — formed an ideological cocoon for a version of the news that was at odds with the mainstream reports it sought to discredit. |
| Though the network has a distinct stable of personalities — and many journalists who are respected throughout the field — it was truly an extension of Mr. Ailes’s own political mind, which is why there are so many questions about what the network might look like without him. | Though the network has a distinct stable of personalities — and many journalists who are respected throughout the field — it was truly an extension of Mr. Ailes’s own political mind, which is why there are so many questions about what the network might look like without him. |
| It was Mr. Ailes who, after the Sept. 11 attacks, directed his network to break with classic journalistic detachment to get fully behind the war efforts of the George W. Bush White House, which jarred the rest of his industry. During the Bush years, Fox News was a staunch defender of presidential power, and most of its hosts spoke out against a “liberal media” that, in their view, was unfairly questioning its president. | It was Mr. Ailes who, after the Sept. 11 attacks, directed his network to break with classic journalistic detachment to get fully behind the war efforts of the George W. Bush White House, which jarred the rest of his industry. During the Bush years, Fox News was a staunch defender of presidential power, and most of its hosts spoke out against a “liberal media” that, in their view, was unfairly questioning its president. |
| “’We are not anti-the United States,” Mr. Ailes told me in 2001. “We just do not assume that America’s wrong first.” | “’We are not anti-the United States,” Mr. Ailes told me in 2001. “We just do not assume that America’s wrong first.” |
| Then came the Obama years. | Then came the Obama years. |
| Mr. Ailes’s network provided the soundtrack and sometimes the script for the Tea Party rebellion and whatever we decide will come after — at times questioning Mr. Obama’s motives, his associations, and, certainly, his exercise of presidential power, which some of the network’s hosts often described in totalitarian terms. | Mr. Ailes’s network provided the soundtrack and sometimes the script for the Tea Party rebellion and whatever we decide will come after — at times questioning Mr. Obama’s motives, his associations, and, certainly, his exercise of presidential power, which some of the network’s hosts often described in totalitarian terms. |
| Mr. Obama often flashed frustration with the network, telling my colleague John Harwood in one typical refrain, “I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.” | Mr. Obama often flashed frustration with the network, telling my colleague John Harwood in one typical refrain, “I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration.” |
| The political nimbleness of Mr. Ailes’s network — which became No. 1 over CNN about 14 years ago and never looked back — is matched by one politician in particular, Mr. Trump, with whom Mr. Ailes, like so many other of the New York-based networks, has had a long relationship. | The political nimbleness of Mr. Ailes’s network — which became No. 1 over CNN about 14 years ago and never looked back — is matched by one politician in particular, Mr. Trump, with whom Mr. Ailes, like so many other of the New York-based networks, has had a long relationship. |
| It was an intriguing subplot this year when Mr. Ailes emerged as the only major television executive who was willing to take on Mr. Trump directly, in defense of Megyn Kelly, whom Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked, often in misogynistic terms. | It was an intriguing subplot this year when Mr. Ailes emerged as the only major television executive who was willing to take on Mr. Trump directly, in defense of Megyn Kelly, whom Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked, often in misogynistic terms. |
| That defense included a statement in which the network accused Mr. Trump of having a “sick obsession” with the star and sent the signal that the network had the ratings stature, and confidence, to jeopardize its access to Mr. Trump, who had proved to be a great ratings draw. | That defense included a statement in which the network accused Mr. Trump of having a “sick obsession” with the star and sent the signal that the network had the ratings stature, and confidence, to jeopardize its access to Mr. Trump, who had proved to be a great ratings draw. |
| But in recent months, the network emerged as the television home of choice for Mr. Trump, who appears there more than anywhere else. That swing has created tensions within the network, between the more traditional conservative and establishment Republican thinkers, and its New York-based populists. | But in recent months, the network emerged as the television home of choice for Mr. Trump, who appears there more than anywhere else. That swing has created tensions within the network, between the more traditional conservative and establishment Republican thinkers, and its New York-based populists. |
| Mr. Ailes is clearly more aligned with the latter and, for that matter, Mr. Trump, who will give his formal acceptance speech Thursday night. If the settlement agreement between Mr. Ailes and 21st Century Fox that leaked on Drudge on Tuesday is finalized, Mr. Ailes could step down from the Fox chairmanship the next day. | Mr. Ailes is clearly more aligned with the latter and, for that matter, Mr. Trump, who will give his formal acceptance speech Thursday night. If the settlement agreement between Mr. Ailes and 21st Century Fox that leaked on Drudge on Tuesday is finalized, Mr. Ailes could step down from the Fox chairmanship the next day. |