Ailes: Journalists Should Be Government Watchdogs, Not Lapdogs | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: The author of this fine report, Dan Way, is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Fox News Channel CEO says aspiring reporters with agendas should choose politics as career

    CHAPEL HILL     "I'm the mole," Fox News Channel chairman and CEO Roger Ailes fibbed in a bit of faux news folly during remarks at the 23rd Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus Thursday.

    Of course the mole is the disgruntled Joe Muto, an associate producer at Fox's No. 1 rated "The O'Reilly Factor," who vowed this week to expose evil doings as an insider at Fox News for the Gawker website. Instead, Muto's digital fingerprints foiled his tell-all foray within 24 hours of the initial posts appearing.

    Ailes' playfulness with the corporate espionage -- and accompanying dart about the culture that fomented it -- were illustrative of his hour-long remarks, a blend of wry wit and blunt assessment in deadpan delivery to more than 200 audience members.

    "We're not doing anything wrong, so I'm not really worried about the mole," Ailes said of the posts by Muto intended to embarrass Fox News. They included bits about Bill O'Reilly's bathroom habits, and video of commentator Sean Hannity and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

    "The mole shows a culture that believes in theft, a lack of loyalty, turning on its colleagues, lying to management," Ailes said. Muto has been fired. Fox lawyers are exploring criminal charges and civil action.

    "I think we got a deeper insight into the man behind Fox News," said Susan King, dean of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication and master of ceremonies at the lecture, named for Roy H. Park, a North Carolina native and founder of the Park Communications radio, television, and newspaper conglomerate.

    Ailes' lecture was laced with stern advice for aspiring journalists and disdain for declining journalistic values, such as abandoning traditional standards of multiple sources for a story, crusading for political causes, or citing Wikipedia and other unreliable Internet sources.

    "Remember, bias is not necessarily what you write in a story, it may be what you leave out of a story or refuse to cover," Ailes said.

    He railed against the proliferation of regulations choking business growth and intruding on personal life, telling the future news representatives "it's up to journalism to make sure we don't tie ourselves up in something we don't want" by examining regulations for their erosion of personal liberties and exposing them.

    And he heralded American exceptionalism, saluted the nation's military, and defended the capitalist business structure.

    "You're going to hear your country criticized. As a journalist, you must question your country. But you also must question the criticism," Ailes said.

    "We have a historic, heroic history," he said. "American exceptionalism does exist because we believe in freedom. You can tell this is a great country because everybody is trying to get in and nobody's trying to get out."

    Ailes lauded Park for creating a multimedia company from the ground up.

    "That's a major contribution to society and a major contribution to poor people" because it created jobs, he said. "Don't let people talk you out of trying to succeed or make you feel guilty about making money."

    He ticked off a list of Fox News accomplishments: Staying ahead of CNN and MSNBC in the ratings for 10 straight years. Showing profitable growth for 58 consecutive quarters. Having 123 months - 41 quarters - at the No. 1 position in cable news, with six shows at the No. 1 position in their time slots for more than 100 consecutive months.

    "I tell you about these ratings because ratings bring in money and that's how you get a paycheck," Ailes said.

    "Yes, you are doing it for a higher reason, but without the paycheck you're not doing it at all," he said. "We are the only network that has not had any layoffs because of economic conditions."

    He said he is "not a big fan of government confiscating more than a third of what we make. I believe a third is fair." Donating to charity for worthy causes is important, he said.

    Ailes was executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning "The Mike Douglas Show," the most-watched syndicated talk program of its time. Ailes said he twice met with Martin Luther King Jr. on the talk show.

    "He was under tremendous pressure to lead a violent revolution and he refused to do it. He said we would change the country peacefully, and he lost his life doing it," Ailes said. "He was a brave man."

    He drew a parallel with King and America's military personnel.

    "They are warriors who don't want war," Ailes said. "They are willing to die for peace if it comes to that," and that is why Fox News focuses on military stories.

    After leaving the talk show, he operated the Ailes Communications consulting company prior to his career with Fox News.

    He reminded that the U.S. Constitution was written to protect citizens from government because "everybody who wrote it came from countries where the government got a little too oppressive ... places where the government showed up in the dark of night" and took away possessions, family, and dignity.

    Journalism is the only job protected by the Constitution -- in the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press, Ailes said, and journalists have a duty to be a watchdog of the government, not subservient to it or a fawning admirer of its politicians.

    "Democracy depends on freedom of the press, but freedom depends on fairness in the press. There has to be more than one point of view," Ailes said, defending his company against attacks that it has a conservative bent.

    With most of the media leaning to the left, "Don't you think it's valuable to have at least one little voice in the wilderness that might differ from you?" he said. "If there's an alternative point of view, don't wet your pants."

    And despite attacks on its news style, Ailes said "In 15 years we have never taken a story down because we got it wrong," a claim he said that the major networks, other cable channels, and The New York Times can't make.

    He admonished aspiring journalists to change majors to political science if they hope to push political causes through their reporting.

    Many journalism students say they are in that course of study for "some version of change the world or save the world," Ailes said. They're stumped, he said, when he asks them why they think the world wants them to change it.

    And he acknowledged in jest that journalists sometimes are viewed negatively.

    "Gen. [U.S.] Grant wanted all journalists shot as spies. Critics say most injuries to journalists occur by them falling off their egos onto their IQs," he said. But, he was quick to add, "hundreds are locked up and beaten every year. ... Many are smart, brave, competitive and, believe me, there are easier ways to make a living."

    Dan Way is a contributor to Carolina Journal.