Is Dr. Fox-enstein - Roger Ailes - Building Another Monster?

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, her classic work from 1818, Dr. Victor Frankenstein brings life to the lifeless. Larger and more powerful than an average man, Dr. Frankenstein's creation strikes fear in the hearts of those it encounters. Remember, this monster was only man-like -- a far cry from the real thing.

With Halloween just around the corner, Fox News president Roger Ailes -- a former Republican communications guru -- is looking more and more like the news industry's Dr. Frankenstein. For months now, he has been putting the finishing touches on his first monster, Fox News Channel, just as its bride, Fox Business Network, is showing signs of life.

His main tactic has been all too apparent: steal conservative media figures from real news networks like CNN, MSNBC, and ABC in order to build something new from the pieces -- something that only superficially resembles a legitimate news outlet.

Last spring, conspiracy-loving crybaby Glenn Beck claimed that Ailes wooed him over to Fox News from CNN Headline News by stressing the conservative network's opposition to the president. Beck even told one newspaper that Ailes had likened Fox News' battle against Obama to the Alamo.

Then there was Tucker Carlson in May. Fresh off yet another canceled show -- first with CNN and then with MSNBC -- and a brief stint on ABC's Dancing With The Stars, the conservative man-boy cable host known for his bow-tie fetish landed with a bang at Fox News, declaring, "I've waited a long time to get here."

Luring two big right-wing names to Fox News Channel's roster allowed Ailes to focus on Fox Business Network, his answer to NBC Universal's successful business news outlet, CNBC.

Since its launch in late 2007, Fox Business has been plagued with horrible ratings. In fact, CNBC sometimes outperformed the new conservative business outlet by a margin of 10-to-1. It's hardly surprising, then, that Ailes has turned his focus to the struggling network.

Just last month, Fox Business announced that it would begin carrying a weekday simulcast of Don Imus' radio program. Imus is, of course, far better known for his long history of outrageous and at times racist and sexist comments than for his business-reporting chops. In fact, he'll likely represent the word "business" in his new employer's name about as well as his new colleagues represent the word "news" in Fox News Channel.

Imus comes to Fox Business from the little-known and little-watched RFD-TV, his television home following his high-profile firing from MSNBC and CBS radio in 2007 for referring to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

September would prove to be a barn burner of a month for Ailes. In addition to Imus, John Stossel, a correspondent for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20, also announced his intention to join Fox Business. Stossel will no doubt feel right at home -- he has a long history of denying the scientific reality of global climate change and promoting a cornucopia of right-wing myths and distortions. So much so that Fox's Chris Wallace described Stossel as a "very natural fit at Fox because he is a contrarian, and he's a conservative."

So what's next for Fox Business? Well, according to recent reports, CNN's immigrant-bashing conspiracy theorist Lou Dobbs met with Ailes over dinner last month. Could Dobbs be taking his loony quest for President Obama's already-available birth certificate to Fox Business? It seems plausible. Years before CNN turned over its airwaves to Dobbs for his nightly broadcasts of immigrant-smearing hysteria and right-wing fringe causes of the day, Dobbs was something of a respected financial news anchor.

Surely, Imus, Stossel, and Dobbs won't be enough to breathe new life into Ailes' monster bride of a network. He's going to need a few more high-profile names before he's able to shout "It's alive!" from the rooftops. But who?

Perhaps Ailes could sign Michael Savage, the third-highest-rated radio host in America, who was fired by MSNBC in 2003 for describing a caller as "a sodomite" and telling him to "get AIDS and die." While he's at it, he could also snatch up Pat Buchanan, the former CNN and MSNBC host who currently serves as resident cranky uncle and political commentator for the latter. Surely, they could use someone with his decades-long history of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, defending of Hitler, and whitewashing of the Holocaust.

We might as well refer to Ailes as Dr. Fox-enstein at this point. After all, his relentless abuse of the journalistic form is just as frightening as Shelley's chilling fictional tale of scientific experimentation run amok -- perhaps more so.

Karl Frisch is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog and research and information center based in Washington, D.C. Frisch also contributes to County Fair, a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web as well as original commentary. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, or sign up to receive his columns by email.

 

Follow Karl Frisch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KarlFrisch

Comments

[JoeBridgeman]

only the best and the brightest! way to go foxies!

[AgnesBankhead]

in anticipation of a national day (or two) of faux MSMedia handwringing and intentionally meaningless self-analysis ...

BALLOON BOY HOAX:
THE FOX IN THE MSM CHICKENCOOP

STEP 1 -
FoxNews starts running it and immediately experiences a huge spike in the minute-by-minute, cash-for-eyeballs ratings war

STEP 2 -
EverybodyElse News, and most notably CNN, piles on - nobody bothers to wait for facts and the real news of a hoax

STEP 3 -
Mr. Aileshole and his FoxNews minions congratulate themselves on another productive day of media distraction, distortion and duplicitous disinformation

[JeffMaylor]

What kind of organization is Media Matters? Does it merely serve the needs of partisan hackery?

[captainigor]

No, it uses magnetic tape to document and play back the insanity of the RW.

[lthuedk 1]

Totalitarianism v Democracy.

It's over, Roger Ailes. Your ideological window has closed.

[josephXY]

You exaggerate the reach of that channel. The bigger fools were all assisted out of their
money in the big first round, many of whom are likely to be among those having their homes
foreclosed on top of all. And others learned and stay away from it (Fox News is part 2&3 of the video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

[bobdcat]

Why doesn't Fox News come under the legal description of a PAC, or, better yet, why aren't its constant cheerleading for the republican right wing constitute a corporate political contribution - illegal under McCain-Feingold? Of course the Supreme Court is about to overturn that, so it may be a moot point.

[C Pollard]

Have you watched MSNBC, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC? And you accuse Fox? Wow. Does the give you a tingle up your leg?

[kdlaiusa]

You think John Stossel can bring his "fans" to Fox Business? You think Imus can revive his career in Fox Business? I think the viewers can't take excessive dosage of bigotry and cynicism. One Fox News is more than enough when it has only 1% of the total US population as audience.

[JohnnyChristmas]

Oh, don't worry, they'll love him on Fox.

[Sandy972]

Absolutely they will! The people who watch Fox, let's face it, are not the best and the brightest of our society. They think they are but I would like to do a version of "Jaywalking" with them and can bet that they would not be able to answer any pertinent questions about our government and most likely would answer with Fox talking points from their favorite Faux News hosts. Those teabaggers were a perfect example. Even my governor, Rick Perry, is one of those nutcases. George Bush said when he was nominated, after a lot of people said he was a bad governor..."If you think I'm bad, wait til you see the guy who's taking my place". He of course was referring to Rick Perry. So goes to show you what people will fall for.

[rjmiller]

Good article, but a gross misrepresentation of Frankenstein. The novel version of Frankenstein was a young, naive but well-meaning scientist that didn't understand the consequences of neglecting his creation and not taking fatherly responsibility. I don't think this characterization fits Ailes in the slightest.

Your analogy doesn't even fit the 1931 film version, in which the scientist is somewhat mad and simply creates the creature because he can. You mean to portray Ailes as an evil madman, bent on a singular, destructive end: dismantling the Democratic party. Maybe Lex Luthor is a better fit?

[TheobaldLocke]

"Roger Ailes -- a former Republican communications guru"

He embraced semaphore towers... in the 1980's

[RickO]

The bright side of this is that now maybe all those nutjobs scattered around the different networks can all concentrate under one. It has been hard to avoid them when you are just looking for news but it very easy to simply not watch FOX. I have it blocked, as a matter of fact, just to avoid the accidental desecration of my home. The most FOX News I see are the screen shots on this site, but then I never watch the actual videos. Move along, nothing to see here.

[thetruthmustbetold]

It's wonderful how your open to new ideas!

[Bruce388]

It's wonderful how Faux viewers don't know the difference between "your" and "you're."

New ideas? Labeling Republicans caught with their pants down (Ensign, Craig, Foley, etc.) as Democrats. Lies and distortions from the Right aren't anything new.