Following the firing of anchor Tucker Carlson and network adjustments meant to hide it from more examination following its landmark lawsuit settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, the widow of Fox News founder Roger Ailes is outraged by what has become of her husband’s legacy. These reforms at the network were supposed to insulate it from future scrutiny.
During an interview on Newsmax, Elizabeth Ailes elaborated on her most recent tweet, in which she wrote, “It took you 20 years to build Fox News into the powerhouse that it was and only 6 years for the Murdochs to wreak havoc. Rupert thought he could do your job. What a joke. He has the checkbook but could never come close to your genius.”
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“I think I caused quite a stir because for one thing I told the truth. Truth is in short supply today. As you know it did take Roger 20 years to build the channel, and he never once had his hand off the wheel… I decided to make it clear that Rupert thought he could do Roger’s job… He had the checkbook but he could never hold a candle to Roger’s genius.”
When the host asked her if she thought that thanks to Murdoch’s two sons, Fox has gone toward the center or even moved to the left, she responded that she did not agree. It was suggested by Elizabeth Ailes that the network is currently seeking to appeal to “viewers of CNN.”
“The sons, Lachlan and James, had decided they wanted Roger gone, and Roger said to me, ‘These useless kids, Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber, are going to ruin the channel and turn it into CNN,’” Ailes said.
Elizabeth Ailes told Newsmax that her husband would never have fired broadcaster Tucker Carlson. Roger Ailes was the person responsible for establishing Fox News Channel as a leader in conservative broadcasting.
“It did take Roger 20 years to build the channel, and he never once had his hand off the wheel,” she said Thursday on “Eric Bolling The Balance” “He had his 8 o’clock call, his 2:30 meeting, and he was always in touch even on a rare day that he might take a day off.”
She said that Roger Ailes would have been involved in how Carlson “was positioning his shows,” as he was with Bill O’Reilly “whenever there was something controversial or something big came up. He was always very much in touch with the talent, never telling them what to do or how to say something, but rather how to keep everybody in their lane, if you will.”
Since Carlson was fired from Fox, many viewers have switched to alternative conservative news sources, especially Newsmax, according to Elizabeth Ailes, who claimed to have spoken with Carlson “a few times” since the firing.
She claimed that although Carlson had not revealed his future intentions, she had attempted to provide him “insight into what I think is going to happen next because not many people have survived the attacks that the Murdochs unleash on those that once brought them great fame and fortune.”
A number of female employees at Fox, including on-air anchors Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros, leveled charges of sexual harassment against Roger Ailes in July of 2016, which led to the network’s decision to fire Ailes and force him out of his position. Murdoch issued a statement in which he justified the network’s decision to fire its head. He said that “Fox News has given voice to those who were ignored by the traditional networks and has been one of the great commercial success stories of modern media.”
