Elite, Arrogant, Condescending
The L.A. Times' editor is terrified of Fox News. How pathetic.
BY ROGER AILES
WSJ.com
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John S. Carroll, the editor of the Los Angeles Times, recently gave a speech at the University of Oregon, in which he attacked Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Channel and me, the chairman of Fox News. However, Mr. Carroll obviously did not feel particularly restricted by facts, truth or sources. In an effort to use guilt by association, he compared me to Sen. Joseph McCarthy without evidence, sourcing or analysis. An old, cheap trick used by weak writers and thinkers.
Mr. Carroll essentially announced that the reason Fox News Channel is the No. 1 cable news network and is gaining viewers is because the American people are stupid and gullible. In addition, he deliberately confused our highly rated news analysis and opinion shows like Bill O'Reilly with our hard news coverage. Mr. Carroll cites not a single example of what he calls "pseudojournalism" from our actual news coverage. He cites only Bill O'Reilly's opinions and an old push poll that purports to show that more Fox News viewers believed things that were not true about Iraq and the War on Terror than did viewers of other outlets. But he cites no instance of our having reported any of these things.
What the audience at the University of Oregon was not informed about are the many firsts and exclusives that Fox News has reported. Fox News is the network that broke George W. Bush's DUI four days before the election. Greg Kelly rolled into Baghdad ahead of any other reporter, on the back of a M-113 armored personnel carrier--video of which was requested by news organizations world-wide. Steve Harrigan ventured into danger zones from Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia and the Congo, to report on a genocidal war largely ignored by other media. Jim Angle scooped the rest of Washington on what Richard Clarke had said about the administration while he was there, as opposed to what he wrote later in his book. Fox called every Democratic primary race in 2004 first and accurately, and was praised by the Congressional Black Caucus for partnering with them on producing two Democratic primary debates. We have been the only network seriously reporting on the Oil-for-Food program, where a corrupt U.N. appears to have paid for anti-Americanism all over the world.
Our hard news at 6 in the evening with Brit Hume, one of America's finest journalists, followed by Shep Smith at 7 p.m., a talented anchor, is linked to breaking-news coverage throughout the majority of our 168 hours on the air weekly. And of course, Mr. Carroll wants to talk about Bill O'Reilly only because Bill O'Reilly has criticized John Carroll and the Los Angeles Times for its well-known and admitted biased journalism.
Mr. Carroll's pathetic attempt to smear Fox News Channel will only drive his paper's circulation down, as it should. Fox News Channel's audience in Los Angeles is increasing daily. The Los Angeles Times is becoming less relevant in people's lives, so Mr. Carroll is trying to flog health back to a newspaper by attacking television news. Most Americans, of course, get their news from television. In fact, the Fox News Channel today has 53% of the audience share of cable news. CNN and MSNBC divide up the rest. According to Mr. Carroll, that proves most Americans are therefore stupid and gullible. It's that elite, arrogant, condescending, self-serving, self-righteous, biased and wrongheaded view of Americans that causes viewers and readers to distrust media people like John Carroll.
He owes the fine journalists at the Fox News Channel an apology for his insulting comments. However, we will never see that. He treated Fox News Channel worse in his newspaper than he treated the terrorists who recently beheaded an American. But of course, he sees Fox News as more dangerous. <font size=3>
Mr. Ailes is chairman and CEO of Fox News.
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