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

As a teenager growing up in the 1950s in Lima, Ohio, (population 50,000), I learned that our local daily, The Lima News, had been purchased by a man named R. C. Hoiles. Hoiles lived in Orange County, California, and was a member of the John Birch Society. He owned a chain of small-town newspapers which he called (surprise!) Freedom Newspapers. I didn’t know any of that at the time, though. What I knew was just what I read in the News: editorials denouncing the “socialistic” concept of free public schools and paeans to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the drunken liar and bully who claimed to see Communists under every desk.By now you’ve guessed, of course, that I grew up in a Democratic household and learned very early to disregard the ravings of Hoiles’ mouthpiece at the local paper. Although we Democrats were a small minority in a conservative Republican town, where the News frequently represented local opinion, Hoiles and his ilk were almost as widely disregarded in the larger society as my painting teacher, Mrs. Elmer McClain, a Communist who was warmly received in Moscow by Nikita Khrushchev (I kid you not).Oh, those were the good old days, when there was a Left and a Right, and nobody paid much attention to either! Now, in the 21st Century, we have Roger Ailes, who is just as loopy and far to the Right as R. C. Hoiles, if not more so, and not only is he widely regarded as brilliant — but he’s also running the most successful television news network in the country, a billion-dollar venture that is widely understood to be an extension of the Republican Party’s Right Wing.Ailes, it turns out, was raised in a similar Ohio town, Warren, and at about the same time as I was. (He’s almost exactly one year older than me.) Surprisingly, though, Ailes showed little interest in politics until 1967, when he managed to trap then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon in an hour-long private meeting at the Ohio television station where he was a producer. Ailes talked himself into a job as “media advisor” to Nixon, even though, to all appearances, he was then a liberal and disdained many of Nixon’s policies. He played a relatively small role in Nixon’s campaign, but in subsequent elections (Reagan in 1984, Bush I in 1992, Bush II in 2000, McCain in 2008, Romney in 2012) his influence was considerably greater, allowing him to claim that he had “elected presidents.” By then, politics had hooked him thoroughly, and with every successive campaign in which Ailes became involved, his political views seemed to shift further to the Right. Along the way, he:** Helped swing the 2000 election to George W. Bush** Became Rush Limbaugh’s executive producer and a personal friend** Put Glenn Beck on national television** Championed the rise of the Tea Party** Promoted partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill and throughout the country** Made billions of dollars for his boss, the media mogul Rupert MurdochRoger Ailes built the Fox News Network beginning in 1996 based on his conviction that news should be presented as entertainment, emphasizing maximum drama and conflict. It’s a little hard to tell whether this belief helped propel Ailes Rightward or it served as rationalization for his and Fox’s steady drift toward Right-Wing extremism.Clearly, the outwardly visible benchmarks of Ailes’ career identify him now as about as extreme as you can get in contemporary America. What’s not so easily visible is Ailes’ behavior at the office and at home in Garrison, New York, where he maintains a 9,000-square-foot mountaintop fortress with a “panic room” underground to protect Ailes and his wife for six months in the event of a terrorist assault on the site. In The Loudest Voice in the Room, you can read all about Ailes’ outrageous behavior toward his colleagues, his subordinates, his neighbors, and even his friends.Of course, you’ll find a bare-bones outline of Ailes’ life on Wikipedia. However, if you want the real story, read this book. It’s carefully researched and written with restraint, although the full spectrum of Ailes’ lunacy does come through clearly.A century ago, men who behaved like Ailes would have been tagged as “eccentric.” Nowadays we know better. The man is simply nuts. Brilliant, but nuts.

First, I want to say that I have no party affiliation and am a registered Independent. I have always wondered why Fox News attracted many people that I know who I never would have believed could lean that way. I watch all news so I have a better feel on what is fact and what just doesn't make any sense to me. Yes, our President feels above the law and his base will never leave him. In going back in time, when Roger Ailes built Fox News, I can now see how they can manipulate anything and have loyal followers that seem to question nothing. Roger Ailes was brilliant to be sure but not in a good way. He may be gone now but people loyal to his thinking, for whatever reason, continue his work with ratings in mind. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Bill O, Steve Bannon, and many in our current administration, scary to be sure, will never change even when they know better. The people around Trump are being indicted at an alarming rate. Where is the Republican party? Where is their Christian leader, Mitch in congress? Silent. This is what Fox News does best. Spin the facts. While all media are to blame for getting Trump elected, with their nonstop free air time, Fox is on the wrong side of history. The National Enquirer, who was in Trump's pocket, put over 20 covers on that smut featuring lies about Hillary Clinton. Maybe people didn't buy copies but they couldn't help see them in every grocery line. Like Fox, like Roger, like Trump, just keep repeating the lies and eventually they become truth to some people. Clever to be sure and is what Ailes found worked for many in our country. What happened to decency, hard facts and the courage to protect this country over party. Gone forever I believe. The Republican party is pushing further Right every day. That leaves anyone else a nobody in this country. To have to actually fight for decency and truth against a wall like the far right is shameful. You can thank Roger Ailes' "brilliance" and owners of Fox to continue in the same pattern. The loudest voices at Fox are the horrible opinion speakers. The actual news people are leaving after not being able to tolerate the lies anymore. Those news people will have a hard time gaining employment after a long stint at Fox. What does that tell you. What does it tell you when ALL the news channels are focused on the latest lies, arrests, indictments, plea deals and the crumbling Trump organization and only Fox, on an island of their own covers anything but. Unbelievable that yes, Trump could shoot someone on Broadway and not lose a single vote. If Hillary was in the White House, you would have seen Impeachment started before she even moved in. Mitch, Goudy and the gang would have been screaming like their hair was on fire. Years of Whitewater, not a single indictment. Even more years with that dastardly Goudy showing his tough side with not one single indictment. Shame on all of them. And the cost of all that!!! They belong with Trump. Totally useless to our democracy. Putin got his way, now what will we do about it? Rise up? or fall because "party" Trumped "democracy." Shame on all of them. I wish every member of government would read this book and then ask themselves what the heck they heading us toward? And WHY?

This was quite a difficult book for me to read. I struggled with the unfair practices in the American media and felt angry reading certain parts. I think I'll try the films instead.

YEP ALL GOOD AND DELIVERED

I can’t speak to the content of the book since I just received it, but when I buy a book I expect it to at least have been quality controlled—my copy has cuts and irregularities.

The lack of adequate research by Murdoch and News Corp Management to investigate the disgusting behaviour before engaging Ailes to establish Fox News confirms primarily why Murdoch should have his media interests in Australia eliminated or at least significantly reduced so that he no longer has such input into the disgraceful delivery of lies and manipulation.

This is a skilful hatchet job on one of the most unappealing power players in America today. Ailes has personally done more to lower the tone of public debate in the United States than any other single person, including his financial backer, Rupert Murdoch. For those interested in how he has managed this sickening feat, this is a useful read.For those who believe that Fox actually produces news, however, this is not recommended.