Roger Ailes Renews Contract With News Corp

FOX News chief Roger Ailes has signed on to remain at News Corp, the Huffington Post has learned.

News Corp is expected to announce later today that Ailes has signed a new deal that will keep him with the cable news network.

More details forthcoming.

Update: Rupert Murdoch announced Thursday afternoon that Roger Ailes has signed a five year contract extension with News Corp. Ailes serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FOX News and Chairman of FOX Television Stations.

"Roger has done a remarkable job building FOX News into a force in journalism and built a great asset for News Corporation," Murdoch said. "I have complete confidence in his talent and his editorial judgment. Under his leadership, I believe that FOX Business Network will become the strongest competitor in financial television news."

"I'm pleased to continue to work for News Corporation," Ailes added. "It is a strong and extremely well positioned company. I look forward to carrying out Mr. Murdoch's legendary vision in the future."

Ailes will continue to oversee FOX News, FOX Television Stations, FOX Business Network, My Network TV, and Twentieth Television, and will also continue serve as a senior advisor to Murdoch on television and news matters.

Press release below:

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NEW YORK - (Business Wire) Roger Ailes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FOX News and Chairman of FOX Television Stations, has signed a new five year contract with News Corporation, it was announced today by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ailes has been with News Corporation since 1996, the year he launched FOX News Channel (FNC).

In making the announcement, Mr. Murdoch said, "Roger has done a remarkable job building FOX News into a force in journalism and built a great asset for News Corporation. I have complete confidence in his talent and his editorial judgment. Under his leadership, I believe that FOX Business Network will become the strongest competitor in financial television news."

The new agreement states that Mr. Ailes will continue to oversee FOX News, FOX Television Stations (FTS), FOX Business Network (FBN), My Network TV and Twentieth Television. He will also continue serving as a senior advisor to Mr. Murdoch on television and news matters.

Mr. Ailes added, "I'm pleased to continue to work for News Corporation. It is a strong and extremely well positioned company. I look forward to carrying out Mr. Murdoch's legendary vision in the future."

During Mr. Ailes' tenure with News Corporation, FNC passed CNN in ratings in all day parts in 2002 to become the number one news network in the country, nearing full distribution with more than 90 million subscribers. In 2007, he launched FBN which currently reaches more than 40 million homes and served as the biggest launch in cable history. Throughout Mr. Ailes' tenure, FOX Television Stations has increased its market share each of the last three years with all time record shares in the last two years. In addition, FTS has expanded its local news presence by nearly 100 hours a week in a challenging economic climate.

News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of September 30, 2008 of approximately US$61 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$33 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers and information services; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin.

Comments

[ddemos]

Bummer.

[shirleyfeeney]

How mice.

Thanks for the warning!

[dhfsfc]

How old is Roger Ailes.

Has he been stuffed? Is that why he is going to last another 5 years!

[Totto]

I do hope the Obama Administration denies the "Disinformation Network" any access at all.

[Yama]

Of course you do. Being a progressive thinker, one naturally expects that you'd hope to use power to shut down and silence those you disagree with.

[LightSword]

How naive. You want Obama to do the samething you're complaining Fox does? - Silence the opposing voice?

[afgail]

It is better to generally ignore a gadfly. But pick and choose your battles carefully. Just don't play their game. Chart your own course and ignore theirs except when it suits your needs.

[kothian1]

How would that be "shutting them up"? They would continue to invent and distort either way. The difference would be that the administration would be denying them legitimacy.

[hotseat]

This is sad but Ailes has made Fox very successful. There's an appetite for 24/7 Red Meat.

[Yama]

It's true. I'll bet though that you'd cheer up if FOX hired Olbermann and let him rant about conservatives for an hour or so.

[BushBites]

He won't live that long.

Just look at him.

[jc6565]

Most of his friends are all gone by now. His closet friend died of old age in Spandau Prison and that was years before Hess Died.

There are people who think he's Martin Borman's son and others who think he was Peron's first cousin. Me, I'm still waiting with great anticipation for Fox to admit that Fox News and Ailes are blatant racists, which was the position one of the ringleaders stated when the trumpted a completely false report linking an attack on a McCain volunteer by a tall black man to Obama.

Gosh, can you believe this. That Fox story was completely fabricated, the attack was completely fabricated and B.for Barak Bama was put on in a cosmetics mirror. Soon proven to be false. No tall man. No Obama.

And Fox said it would eat crow seriously if that story proved to false. So did Orally. You expected to hear the truth.

[abbysmom]

Oh great! Another 5 years of status quo on the most biased tv channel out there! Murdoch actually called FOX News "a force in journalism" as if he believes those talking heads are journalists?? Hahahaha!!!

jp5472 (above) calls FNC "the most influential cable news channel." Uh, it should be noted the right wingnuts probably believe that, as well as all the garbage they hear on FNC. Sad.

[Yama]

Actually, those on the right tend to believe independent studies and polls that state FNC is most balanced and dominates. On the other hand you are happy with saying something entirely unsupported while six of your fellow twits say "yeah, right on brother!".

[kothian1]

I don't suppose you have any of those "independent" polls and studies readily available do you? And the term "balanced" is a trifle obtuse unless you know what the criteria is for establishing what "balance" means. Dominates is easy enough...e­ven "most influential", but domination or influence isn't necessarily a "good" thing. You won't find many here who aren't aware that MSNBC has become more liberally biased these days...but they're not chanting any mantras to the contrary as Fox does. If Fox would just admit their bias, they would have a lot fewer people working so hard to discredit them.

It's much like those "values" the GOP spouts about all of the time. If they didn't do so much of that they wouldn't look nearly as hypocritical when one of them slips up and makes a human mistake.

[TruckerJohn]

A message from Australia, sorry for inflicting Rupert Murdoch on the world, as for "fair and balanced" only if you're a brain dead right winger who doesn't mind letting someone else do your thinking for you.

[jp5472]

Not sure what your intent in singling me out is, but as I stated, LIKE HIM OR NOT, you have to admit that what Ailes has done is make Fox the most influential cable news channel. The numbers are there. The influence they have had shaping the news, even views, and what is reported has been written about and covered extensively.

Personally, I do not watch after having sat through many of their programs and news reports. Biased? When Tony Snow had to retire, they should have just moved their studios to the White House press room and the RNC headquarters.

[dadw5boys]

Keep on eaten what your eating Roger !!

Looking good there at what 350 #'s .

[LightSword]

He deserves it. Like him or hate him, he built the most influencial cable news channel in American history.

[jp5472]

You're right - like him or not, he has made FNC the most influential cable news channel. I wonder though, had it not been for 9/11 and the patriotic hysteria followed by Iraq, how many viewers would have identified with Fox and its delivery?

[BushBites]

I used to watch Fox alot after 9/11. I thought its coverage was pretty good.

Then, when the PR buildup for the Iraq War started, it became obvious that it was just a bunch of Bush/Repub cheerleaders.

Haven't watched since.

[Bluedog12]

Jabba the Hut gets a new contract.