The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country

by Sherman, Gabriel

103. “This transcends anything” Maass, “The Toppling.”

  104. “What better picture” Author interview with a Fox producer.

  105. “Here we go!” Jaramillo, Ugly War, Pretty Package, 199.

  106. “ ‘Jubilance’ seems too mild” David Asman, Fox News Channel, April 9, 2003; video available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyttSrkW6Q.

  107. “The scenes of free Iraqis” Maass, “The Toppling.”

  108. Throughout the day Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, 84.

  109. “Now that the war” John Gibson, The Big Story with John Gibson, Fox News Channel, April 16, 2003.

  110. Although thirteen Sean Aday, John Cluverius, and Steven Livingston, “As Goes the Statue, So Goes the War: The Emergence of the Victory Frame in Television Coverage of the Iraq War,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 49, no. 3 (Sept. 2005): 326.

  111. “They had their ending” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  112. In September 2003 Author interview with a former senior Bush administration official.

  113. “I think he hid them” Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, 288.

  114. “signs of a return to normal” Brit Hume, Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Oct. 9, 2003.

  115. One October 1 segment Brit Hume, Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Oct. 1, 2003.

  116. When a Spanish diplomat Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Oct. 9, 2003.

  117. “For a huge part” Ibid.

  118. “Do not fall into” Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by MMFA Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings,” Media Matters for America, July 14, 2004, http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/foxmemo_040604.pdf.

  119. “It was the same” Author interview with a senior Fox producer.

  120. “[T]he pictures from Abu Graeb” Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by MMFA Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings,” http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/foxmemo_050504.pdf.

  121. In 2004, Fox even considered Author interview with a former Bush administration official.

  122. Dan Senor Jim Dwyer, “Bush Voice in Iraq Eyes U.S. Senate Run,” New York Times, March 16, 2010.

  123. Senor turned down Author interview with a former Bush administration official.

  124. In the fall of 2003 The account of Lewis’s negotiations is taken from author interviews with sources familiar with the matter.

  EIGHTEEN: “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH ALL THIS POWER?”

  1. On Wednesday, August 4 Much of the detail in this section is taken from the author’s interview with former substitute Fox host and Democratic politician Patrick Halpin.

  2. The August 4 edition Sean Hannity, “Veterans Run Ad Against Kerry,” Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 4, 2004.

  3. The spot opened Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, “Any Questions?,” 2004 political advertisement, available at http://archive.org/details/swb_anyquestions.

  4. The next day “It’s Not All Fair Game,” editorial, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 6, 2004.

  5. On August 5 Brit Hume, “Political Headlines” and “All-Star Panel,” Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

  6. “I think this is awful” Bill O’Reilly, “Unresolved Problem,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

  7. “Cable news” Auletta, “Vox Fox.”

  8. Since Kerry locked up For examples, see On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Fox News Channel, Nov. 1, 2004 (Laura Ingraham: “A lot of people are going to get in there and realize they’re aligning themselves, if they support Kerry, with the people of France”); The Big Story with John Gibson, Fox News Channel, Oct. 22, 2004 (John Gibson: “Kerry in the White House, speaking French to Chirac?”).

  9. “There were subtle commands” Author interview with a senior Fox producer.

  10. “He may be a Boston aristocrat” Brit Hume, “All-Star Panel,” Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, April 6, 2004.

  11. “Kerry, starting to feel” Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by MMFA Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings.”

  12. “Ribbons or medals?” Ibid.

  13. The week after Sean Hannity, “Interview with John O’Neill,” Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 10, 2004.

  14. “I read the book” Ibid.

  15. Unfit for Command hit “Hardcover Nonfiction,” New York Times, Sept. 19, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/books/bestseller/0919besthardnonfiction.html; see also Robert Novak, “Did John Kerry Misrepresent Vietnam Record?,” Crossfire, CNN, Aug. 12, 2004; Chris Matthews, interview with John O’Neill, Hardball, MSNBC, Aug. 12, 2004.

  16. “Heck, I know our group” Author interview with author and lawyer John O’Neill.

  17. Fox News contributor Susan Estrich Much of this section is based on author’s interview with former Dukakis campaign manager and current analyst for Fox News Channel Susan Estrich.

  18. In ’88, the Willie Horton ad “The Race for the White House Notebook: Maker of Horton Ad Sets Sights on Clinton,” Boston Globe, March 31, 1992; author interview with Roger Stone.

  19. The Swift Boat attack See, e.g., Evan Thomas, “All in the Family,” Newsweek, Nov. 15, 2004.

  20. The spot mockingly Asawin Suebsaeng, “A Political History of the Cicadas,” Political Mojo” (blog), MotherJones.com, May 10, 2003, http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/political-history-cicadas-ronald-reagan.

  21. “We want you to respond” Author interview with Susan Estrich.

  22. As it happened Sean Hannity, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

  23. When Estrich called Evan Thomas, Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future (New York: PublicAffairs, 2004), 121; author interview with Susan Estrich.

  24. “Wherever I went” Author interview with Susan Estrich.

  25. Greta Van Susteren’s husband Mark Leibovich, “ ‘C-List’ Debate Spinners Stand Alone,” Washington Post, Oct. 10, 2004.

  26. A few days before Hannity The information in this section is taken from author’s interview with John Coale.

  27. Kerry’s campaign manager Thomas, Election 2004, 125.

  28. By the time Kerry Jim Rutenberg and Kate Zernike, “Going Negative: When It Works,” New York Times, Aug. 22, 2004.

  29. After a tape Dan Collins, “Kerry Camp Fumes at Fox Anchor,” CBSNews.com, Feb. 11, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-652595.html.

  30. John Sasso Patrick Healy, “Angry over On-Air Remark, Adviser Threatens a Ban,” Boston Globe, Oct. 31, 2004; author interview with a source who was present during the incident.

  31. On the night of Michael Wolff, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (New York: Random House, 2008), 38.

  32. Fox called Ohio for Bush Jacques Steinberg and David Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours,” New York Times, Nov. 4, 2004.

  33. As the minutes ticked by Ibid.; author interview with a senior Bush campaign official.

  34. Rove called Fox analyst Steinberg and Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours.”

  35. Dan Bartlett, at Bush high command Author interview with a senior Bush administration official.

  36. “You know I wasn’t” Author interview with a Bush campaign official.

  37. After Bush’s victory Bill Ward, “Word Up,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nov. 7, 2012.

  38. “Sean said” Author interview with Patrick Halpin.

  39. Months later James Dobson and Rick Santorum, Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, March 18, 2005.

  40. “Go easy” Author interview with Patrick Halpin.

  41. “Sean was pissed” Ibid.

  42. Fox News was now Jacques Steinberg, “Fox News, Media Elite,” New York Times, Nov. 8, 2004.

  43. In July 2004 Robert Greenwald, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Jou
rnalism, Carolina Productions and MoveOn.org, film, July 13, 2004.

  44. a surprise hit Pamela McClintock, “ ‘Outfoxed’ Jumps over DVD Rivals on Amazon,” Daily Variety, July 21, 2004.

  45. They watched on average Stephen Battaglio, “New CNN Team Seeks a Long Run,” Daily News, Sept. 16, 2003.

  46. When Ailes later decided Howard Kurtz, “Fox News Launches Conservative Web Site Fox Nation,” Washington Post, March 30, 2009.

  47. “Before Fox News” Author interview with Democratic political consultant Robert Shrum.

  48. Given Ailes’s audience Michele Greppi, “Ratings Increase for Fox, Headline,” TelevisionWeek, July 11, 2005.

  49. “It’s stupid” Author interview with John Coale.

  50. Connecting online Jonathan Chait, “The Left’s New Machine,” New Republic, May 21, 2007.

  51. During a 2002 interview Josh Benson, “Gore’s TV War: He Lobs Salvo at Fox News,” New York Observer, Dec. 2, 2002.

  52. And throughout the contentious Howard Kurtz, “Reporters Shift Gears on the Dean Bus; Iowa Vote and Outburst Rewrite the Campaign Saga,” Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2004.

  53. Dean’s eventual ascension Nancy Benac, “Dean and the Democrats: The Outsider Is In,” Associated Press, Feb. 11, 2005.

  54. At a Democratic fundraiser Author interview with John Coale.

  55. One morning in This account is based on author interviews with sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.

  56. In the 1990s See, e.g., David Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart,” American Spectator, Jan. 1994.

  57. hailed as the Bob Woodward David Brock, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative (New York: Crown, 2002), 191.

  58. The tactic Eric Alterman, “Think Again: ‘Working the Refs,’ ” Center for American Progress, May 26, 2005, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/media/news/2005/05/26/1476/think-again-working-the-refs/.

  59. Other liberals Michael Shear, “Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 2010.

  60. Media Matters launched “Ex-Conservative Insider Brock Launches Progressive Research and Information Center; Group to Correct Conservative Misinformation,” PR Newswire, May 3, 2004.

  61. A few months earlier “Progressive Talk Radio Show Hits National Airwaves; Conservative Talk Meets Its Match with the Debut of The Ed Schultz Show,” PR Newswire, Jan. 7, 2004.

  62. A member of the comedy elite Al Franken, “Meet Al,” AlFranken.com, http://www.alfranken.com/meet-al/.

  63. In 1996, he published “Best Sellers,” New York Times, March 3, 1996.

  64. For his follow-up Al Franken, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (New York: Penguin, 2003).

  65. By the spring Matt Zoller Seitz, “O’Reilly Formula: It’s All About Good vs. Evil,” Newark Star-Ledger, May 11, 2003.

  66. Often his targets Bill O’Reilly, “Back of the Book,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, March 24, 2003.

  67. Or Hollywood Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, April 9, 2003.

  68. He hammered Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, Jan. 5, 2005.

  69. “We’ve changed the country” Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 208.

  70. Through his various Ibid., 185.

  71. “He sees O’Reilly” Author interview with a senior Fox executive.

  72. One night, he called Bill O’Reilly, “Interview with Progressive Magazine’s Matthew Rothschild,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, May 19, 2003.

  73. On another program Bill O’Reilly, “Top Story,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, Aug. 27, 2002.

  74. “He’s hyper-suspicious” Author interview with a former O’Reilly producer.

  75. O’Reilly declared to a reporter Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 217.

  76. “This has happened” Ibid.

  77. During a February 2003 Bill O’Reilly, “Personal Stories,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, Feb. 4, 2003.

  78. “Get the fuck” Author interview with a former O’Reilly producer.

  79. After one taping Author interviews with sources familiar with the incident.

  80. “I’m the big gun” Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 232.

  81. His relationship with Sean Hannity Author interviews with Patrick Halpin and senior Fox executives.

  82. “His was the only show” Author interview with a former senior Fox executive.

  83. As Franken was putting Bill O’Reilly, Who’s Looking Out for You? (New York: Crown, 2003).

  84. “You’re just going to give” Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 226.

  85. The event “BEA 2003: Al Franken, Molly Ivins, and Bill O’Reilly Panel Discussion,” BookTV.org, C-Span2, http://www.booktv.org/Watch/3856/BEA+2003+Al+Franken+Molly+Ivins+Bill+OReilly+Panel+Discussion.aspx, accessed Sept. 19, 2013.

  86. “This is what he does” Bill O’Reilly, “Profiting from Malice,” Foxnews.com, June 3, 2003, http://www.foxnews.com/story/2003/06/03/profiting-from-malice/.

  87. He told Fox Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 232; author interview with a senior Fox executive.

  88. On August 7 Fox News Network, LLC v. Penguin Group (USA), Inc., 2003 W.L. 23281520 (2003), complaint, http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/ip/foxpenguin80703cmp.pdf, accessed Sept. 19, 2013.

  89. Penguin’s outside counsel Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 233.

  90. “Is Fox really claiming” Ibid., 234.

  91. It was ironic Ibid., 235.

  92. Penguin rushed Lies Emily Eakin, “Among Best-Selling Authors the Daggers Are Out,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 2003.

  93. “It’s time to return” “Fair or Not, Fox Drops Suit Against Franken,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 26, 2003.

  94. He launched a show Seth Sutel, “Franken, Garofalo to Take on Limbaugh on New Liberal Radio Network,” Associated Press, March 10, 2004.

  95. “When somebody calls you” Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 225.

  96. But in private Author interviews with current and former Fox News executives.

  97. The letter was hand-delivered The details of this letter can be found in Richard T. Pienciak, “How Covers Came Off the O’Reilly Fone Sex Scandal: Behind-the-Scenes Look at Her Harassment Rap,” New York Daily News, Oct. 24, 2004.

  98. Morelli wrote See Fox News Network, LLC v. Mackris, complaint (N.Y. Sup. Ct., 2004); also available at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/oreilly-female-aide-60m-extort-bid?page=0, accessed Oct. 30, 2013.

  99. He claimed Robert Kolker, “Benedict Morelli Feels Your Pain,” New York, March 13, 2000.

  100. Morelli’s client Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 249.

  101. “Dianne would often say” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  102. “Not my politics” Author interview with a media talent agent.

  103. “The whole Fox culture” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  104. In their meeting Pienciak, “How Covers Came Off the O’Reilly Fone Sex Scandal.”

  105. The document stipulated Mackris v. O’Reilly, verified complaint (N.Y. Sup. Ct., 2004); also available at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/oreilly-falafel-suit-turns-five?page=0. Many of the details in the following paragraphs are taken directly from this complaint.

  106. It wasn’t just Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  107. “She was a” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  108. Feeling underpaid Heather Gilmore, “How ‘Buddies’ Andrea and Bill Entered Their Tailspin Zone,” New York Post, Oct. 24, 2004.

  109. In one passage Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 251.

  110. So was Murdoch Author interview with a Murdoch adviser.

  111. Morelli continued to play hardball Lloyd Grove and Adam Nichols, “Say O’Reilly Accuser Scoffed at 2M Offer,” New York Daily News, Oct. 20, 2004.

  112. Morelli’s refusal Ibid., 257.<
br />
  113. There were unanswered questions Author interviews with sources familiar with the matter.

  114. “When she was with” Author interview with a former Fox producer.

  115. On the evening Pienciak, “How Covers Came Off the O’Reilly Fone Sex Scandal.”

  116. “If you don’t resolve” Ibid.

  117. “This is indeed” Ibid.

  118. Green filed Ibid.

  119. From the outset Author interview with a source familiar with the matter.

  120. Except for a few See Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, 256.

  121. To gather dirt “O’Reilly’s Lawyer Explains the Extortion Suit Against Andrea Mackris,” The Abrams Report, MSNBC, Oct. 21, 2004, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6298207/ns/msnbc-the_abrams_report/t/oreillys-lawyer-explains-extortion-suit-against-andrea-mackris/#.UjzOEWQ60y8.

  122. “This could be” The Abrams Report, MSNBC, Oct. 15, 2004.

  123. On October 15 Todd Venezia, “ ‘Flipping Out’—‘Lunatic’ O’Reilly Gal Went Nuts in Bar: Chef,” New York Post, Oct. 15, 2004.

  124. A few days later The details of the meeting with Paratore are derived from the author’s interview with a source familiar with the incident.

  125. On October 19 Dareh Gregorian, “ ‘Boozy’ Boast: Gal Said She’d Ruin O’Reilly: Bar Owner,” New York Post, Oct. 19, 2004.

  126. O’Reilly’s lawyer also Ibid.

  127. On October 17 Paul H. B. Shin, “For Extortion, O’Reilly’s Suit Might Not Fit,” New York Daily News, Oct. 17, 2004.

  128. On October 20 Adam Nichols, “Her Dad Mad as Hell, Out to Whup O’Reilly,” New York Daily News, Oct. 21, 2004.

  129. He told the paper Pienciak, “How Covers Came Off the O’Reilly Fone Sex Scandal.”

  130. Brian Lewis told people Author interview with a source familiar with the matter.

  131. “Word came down” Author interview with a source involved in the negotiations.

  132. The Daily News played Derek Rose, George Rush, and Nancy Dillon, “Call Him Owe-Reilly! Multi-million Dollar Deal to End Sex-Harass Case,” New York Daily News, Oct. 29, 2004.

  133. “This brutal ordeal” Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points Memo,” The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, Oct. 28, 2004.

  134. Lewis was disappointed Author interview with a source familiar with the matter.