The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--And Divided a Country (84 page)

  
92.
One morning in late fall
Auletta, “Vox Fox.”

  
93.
“You know who’s”
Ibid.

  
94.
Doocy’s producers
Ibid.

  
95.
“You wake up”
Ibid.

  
96.
“Are we going to continue”
Author interview with a person who was in the room.

  
97.
By early April
“Baghdad Under Heavy Bombing as US Troops Push In,”
Agence France-Presse
, April 5, 2003.

  
98.
On the morning of
Author interview with a senior Fox executive.

  
99.
statue of Saddam Hussein
For a thorough look at the events of the April 9 removal of the Saddam Hussein statue, see Peter Maass, “The Toppling: How the Media Inflated a Minor Moment in a Long War,”
New Yorker
, Jan. 10, 2011. Several of the quotations in this section are taken from that story, as well as from Jaramillo,
Ugly War, Pretty Package
, 197–200.

100.
As the scene on the ground
The information pertaining to the activity in the Fox newsroom during the flag-raising incident is from author interviews with current and former Fox News producers.

101.
“Get that flag going!”
Maass, “The Toppling.”

102.
“My goose bumps”
Frank Rich,
The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina
(New York: Penguin, 2006), 83.

103.
“This transcends anything”
Maass, “The Toppling.”

104.
“What better picture”
Author interview with a Fox producer.

105.
“Here we go!”
Jaramillo,
Ugly War, Pretty Package
, 199.

106.
“ ‘Jubilance’ seems too mild”
David Asman, Fox News Channel, April 9, 2003; video available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyttSrkW6Q
.

107.
“The scenes of free Iraqis”
Maass, “The Toppling.”

108.
Throughout the day
Rich,
The Greatest Story Ever Sold
, 84.

109.
“Now that the war”
John Gibson,
The Big Story with John Gibson
, Fox News Channel, April 16, 2003.

110.
Although thirteen
Sean Aday, John Cluverius, and Steven Livingston, “As Goes the Statue, So Goes the War: The Emergence of the Victory Frame in Television Coverage of the Iraq War,”
Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
49, no. 3 (Sept. 2005): 326.

111.
“They had their ending”
Author interview with a former Fox producer.

112.
In September 2003
Author interview with a former senior Bush administration official.

113.
“I think he hid them”
Rich,
The Greatest Story Ever Sold
, 288.

114.
“signs of a return to normal”
Brit Hume,
Special Report with Brit Hume
, Fox News Channel, Oct. 9, 2003.

115.
One October 1 segment
Brit Hume,
Special Report with Brit Hume
, Fox News Channel, Oct. 1, 2003.

116.
When a Spanish diplomat
Special Report with Brit Hume
, Fox News Channel, Oct. 9, 2003.

117.
“For a huge part”
Ibid.

118.
“Do not fall into”
Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by
MMFA
Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings,” Media Matters for America, July 14, 2004,
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/foxmemo_040604.pdf
.

119.
“It was the same”
Author interview with a senior Fox producer.

120.
“[T]he pictures from Abu Graeb”
Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial
Memos Reviewed by
MMFA
Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings,”
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/foxmemo_050504.pdf
.

121.
In 2004, Fox even considered
Author interview with a former Bush administration official.

122.
Dan Senor
Jim Dwyer, “Bush Voice in Iraq Eyes U.S. Senate Run,”
New York Times
, March 16, 2010.

123.
Senor turned down
Author interview with a former Bush administration official.

124.
In the fall of 2003
The account of Lewis’s negotiations is taken from author interviews with sources familiar with the matter.

    
1.
On Wednesday, August 4
Much of the detail in this section is taken from the author’s interview with former substitute Fox host and Democratic politician Patrick Halpin.

    
2.
The August 4 edition
Sean Hannity, “Veterans Run Ad Against Kerry,”
Hannity & Colmes
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 4, 2004.

    
3.
The spot opened
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, “Any Questions?,” 2004 political advertisement, available at
http://archive.org/details/swb_anyquestions
.

    
4.
The next day
“It’s Not All Fair Game,” editorial,
Los Angeles Times
, Aug. 6, 2004.

    
5.
On August 5
Brit Hume, “Political Headlines” and “All-Star Panel,”
Special Report with Brit Hume
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

    
6.
“I think this is awful”
Bill O’Reilly, “Unresolved Problem,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

    
7.
“Cable news”
Auletta, “Vox Fox.”

    
8.
Since Kerry locked
up For examples, see
On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
, Fox News Channel, Nov. 1, 2004 (Laura Ingraham: “A lot of people are going to get in there and realize they’re aligning themselves, if they support Kerry, with the people of France”);
The Big Story with John Gibson
, Fox News Channel, Oct. 22, 2004 (John Gibson: “Kerry in the White House, speaking French to Chirac?”).

    
9.
“There were subtle commands”
Author interview with a senior Fox producer.

  
10.
“He may be a Boston aristocrat”
Brit Hume, “All-Star Panel,”
Special Report with Brit Hume
, Fox News Channel, April 6, 2004.

  
11.
“Kerry, starting to feel”
Media Matters staff, “33 Internal FOX Editorial Memos Reviewed by
MMFA
Reveal FOX News Channel’s Inner Workings.”

  
12.
“Ribbons or medals?”
Ibid.

  
13.
The week after
Sean Hannity, “Interview with John O’Neill,”
Hannity & Colmes
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 10, 2004.

  
14.
“I read the book”
Ibid.

  
15.
Unfit for Command
hit “Hardcover Nonfiction,”
New York Times
, Sept. 19, 2004,
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/books/bestseller/0919besthardnonfiction.html
; see also Robert Novak, “Did John Kerry Misrepresent Vietnam Record?,”
Crossfire
, CNN, Aug. 12, 2004; Chris Matthews, interview with John O’Neill,
Hardball
, MSNBC, Aug. 12, 2004.

  
16.
“Heck, I know our group”
Author interview with author and lawyer John O’Neill.

  
17.
Fox News contributor Susan Estrich
Much of this section is based on author’s interview with former Dukakis campaign manager and current analyst for Fox News Channel Susan Estrich.

  
18.
In ’88, the Willie Horton ad
“The Race for the White House Notebook: Maker
of Horton Ad Sets Sights on Clinton,”
Boston Globe
, March 31, 1992; author interview with Roger Stone.

  
19.
The Swift Boat attack
See, e.g., Evan Thomas, “All in the Family,”
Newsweek
, Nov. 15, 2004.

  
20.
The spot mockingly
Asawin Suebsaeng, “A Political History of the Cicadas,” Political Mojo” (blog),
MotherJones.com
, May 10, 2003,
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/political-history-cicadas-ronald-reagan
.

  
21.
“We want you to respond”
Author interview with Susan Estrich.

  
22.
As it happened
Sean Hannity,
Hannity & Colmes
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 5, 2004.

  
23.
When Estrich called
Evan Thomas,
Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2004), 121; author interview with Susan Estrich.

  
24.
“Wherever I went”
Author interview with Susan Estrich.

  
25.
Greta Van Susteren’s husband
Mark Leibovich, “ ‘C-List’ Debate Spinners Stand Alone,”
Washington Post
, Oct. 10, 2004.

  
26.
A few days before Hannity
The information in this section is taken from author’s interview with John Coale.

  
27.
Kerry’s campaign manager
Thomas,
Election 2004
, 125.

  
28.
By the time Kerry
Jim Rutenberg and Kate Zernike, “Going Negative: When It Works,”
New York Times
, Aug. 22, 2004.

  
29.
After a tape
Dan Collins, “Kerry Camp Fumes at Fox Anchor,”
CBSNews.com
, Feb. 11, 2009,
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-652595.html
.

  
30.
John Sasso
Patrick Healy, “Angry over On-Air Remark, Adviser Threatens a Ban,”
Boston Globe
, Oct. 31, 2004; author interview with a source who was present during the incident.

  
31.
On the night of
Michael Wolff,
The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch
(New York: Random House, 2008), 38.

  
32.
Fox called Ohio for Bush
Jacques Steinberg and David Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours,”
New York Times
, Nov. 4, 2004.

  
33.
As the minutes ticked by
Ibid.; author interview with a senior Bush campaign official.

  
34.
Rove called Fox analyst
Steinberg and Carr, “Once Bitten, Twice Tempted, but No Call in Wee Hours.”

  
35.
Dan Bartlett, at Bush high command
Author interview with a senior Bush administration official.

  
36.
“You know I wasn’t”
Author interview with a Bush campaign official.

  
37.
After Bush’s victory
Bill Ward, “Word Up,”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
, Nov. 7, 2012.

  
38.
“Sean said”
Author interview with Patrick Halpin.

  
39.
Months later
James Dobson and Rick Santorum,
Hannity & Colmes
, Fox News Channel, March 18, 2005.

  
40.
“Go easy”
Author interview with Patrick Halpin.

  
41.
“Sean was pissed”
Ibid.

  
42.
Fox News was now
Jacques Steinberg, “Fox News, Media Elite,”
New York Times
, Nov. 8, 2004.

  
43.
In July 2004
Robert Greenwald,
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
, Carolina Productions and
MoveOn.org
, film, July 13, 2004.

  
44.
a surprise hit
Pamela McClintock, “ ‘Outfoxed’ Jumps over DVD Rivals on Amazon,”
Daily Variety
, July 21, 2004.

  
45.
They watched on average
Stephen Battaglio, “New CNN Team Seeks a Long Run,”
Daily News
, Sept. 16, 2003.

  
46.
When Ailes later decided
Howard Kurtz, “Fox News Launches Conservative Web Site Fox Nation,”
Washington Post
, March 30, 2009.

  
47.
“Before Fox News”
Author interview with Democratic political consultant Robert Shrum.

  
48.
Given Ailes’s audience
Michele Greppi, “Ratings Increase for Fox, Headline,”
TelevisionWeek
, July 11, 2005.

  
49.
“It’s stupid”
Author interview with John Coale.

  
50.
Connecting online
Jonathan Chait, “The Left’s New Machine,”
New Republic
, May 21, 2007.

  
51.
During a 2002 interview
Josh Benson, “Gore’s TV War: He Lobs Salvo at Fox News,”
New York Observer
, Dec. 2, 2002.

  
52.
And throughout the contentious
Howard Kurtz, “Reporters Shift Gears on the Dean Bus; Iowa Vote and Outburst Rewrite the Campaign Saga,”
Washington Post
, Jan. 23, 2004.

  
53.
Dean’s eventual ascension
Nancy Benac, “Dean and the Democrats: The Outsider Is In,” Associated Press, Feb. 11, 2005.

  
54.
At a Democratic fundraiser
Author interview with John Coale.

  
55.
One morning in
This account is based on author interviews with sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.

  
56.
In the 1990s
See, e.g., David Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart,”
American Spectator
, Jan. 1994.

  
57.
hailed as the Bob Woodward
David Brock,
Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative
(New York: Crown, 2002), 191.

  
58.
The tactic
Eric Alterman, “Think Again: ‘Working the Refs,’ ”
Center for American Progress
, May 26, 2005,
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/media/news/2005/05/26/1476/think-again-working-the-refs/
.

  
59.
Other liberals
Michael Shear, “Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters,”
New York Times
, Oct. 20, 2010.

  
60.
Media Matters launched
“Ex-Conservative Insider Brock Launches Progressive Research and Information Center; Group to Correct Conservative Misinformation,” PR Newswire, May 3, 2004.

  
61.
A few months earlier
“Progressive Talk Radio Show Hits National Airwaves; Conservative Talk Meets Its Match with the Debut of The Ed Schultz Show,” PR Newswire, Jan. 7, 2004.

  
62.
A member of the comedy elite
Al Franken, “Meet Al,”
AlFranken.com
,
http://www.alfranken.com/meet-al/
.

  
63.
In 1996, he published
“Best Sellers,”
New York Times
, March 3, 1996.

  
64.
For his follow-up
Al Franken,
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
(New York: Penguin, 2003).

  
65.
By the spring
Matt Zoller Seitz, “O’Reilly Formula: It’s All About Good vs. Evil,”
Newark Star-Ledger
, May 11, 2003.

  
66.
Often his targets
Bill O’Reilly, “Back of the Book,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, March 24, 2003.

  
67.
Or Hollywood
Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, April 9, 2003.

  
68.
He hammered
Bill O’Reilly, “Talking Points,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, Jan. 5, 2005.

  
69.
“We’ve changed the country”
Kitman,
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up
, 208.

  
70.
Through his various
Ibid., 185.

  
71.
“He sees O’Reilly”
Author interview with a senior Fox executive.

  
72.
One night, he called
Bill O’Reilly, “Interview with
Progressive Magazine
’s Matthew Rothschild,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, May 19, 2003.

  
73.
On another program
Bill O’Reilly, “Top Story,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, Aug. 27, 2002.

  
74.
“He’s hyper-suspicious”
Author interview with a former O’Reilly producer.

  
75.
O’Reilly declared to a reporter
Kitman,
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up
, 217.

  
76.
“This has happened”
Ibid.

  
77.
During a February 2003
Bill O’Reilly, “Personal Stories,”
The O’Reilly Factor
, Fox News Channel, Feb. 4, 2003.

  
78.
“Get the fuck”
Author interview with a former O’Reilly producer.

  
79.
After one taping
Author interviews with sources familiar with the incident.

  
80.
“I’m the big gun”
Kitman,
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up
, 232.

  
81.
His relationship with Sean Hannity
Author interviews with Patrick Halpin and senior Fox executives.

  
82.
“His was the only show”
Author interview with a former senior Fox executive.

  
83.
As Franken was putting
Bill O’Reilly,
Who’s Looking Out for You?
(New York: Crown, 2003).

  
84.
“You’re just going to give”
Kitman,
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up
, 226.

  
85.
The event
“BEA 2003: Al Franken, Molly Ivins, and Bill O’Reilly Panel Discussion,”
BookTV.org
, C-Span2,
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/3856/BEA+2003+Al+Franken+Molly+Ivins+Bill+OReilly+Panel+Discussion.aspx
, accessed Sept. 19, 2013.