Roger Ailes Headshot - P 2013
Courtesy of FOX NewsFox News Channel head honcho Roger Ailes on Thursday likened his own network’s coverage of the events surrounding the killing of four Americans, including an ambassador, in Benghazi, Libya, to the Abu Ghraib scandal that erupted during the George W. Bush administration. He also lamented “class warfare” under President Barack Obama.
“We’re learning more about Benghazi everyday. It’s been like pulling my teeth, but now we learn that 35 CIA agents were on the ground, well, what the hell were they doing?” Ailes asked.
Fox News has been criticized from the left for reporting far more about Benghazi than other outlets have been, notably CNN and MSNBC. Ailes said the critics are wrong and insinuated some bias at other media because of a “current love affair,” presumably for the president, though he cut himself short before clarifying.
Benghazi, he said, is “a story worth staying on because we didn’t get the story,” Ailes said. “The same thing happened at Abu Ghraib during the Bush administration. I mean, we were faced with looking at photographs that were totally outside the culture of the United States and would do us more damage, because some moron in the operation did that. So we cover – and it doesn’t matter what the politics of the situation is.”
Ailes was speaking in Los Angeles at the first-ever Investor Day for the newly structured company, 21st Century Fox.
The executive also weighed in on a weak economy.
“The problems are that taxation and regulation are ultimately negative effects on capitalism. They are,” Ailes said. “A lot of people hate capitalism, but you know, we sort of like it, and I hate this war on the rich because every time I needed a job I had to go to a rich guy.”
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“Nobody minds paying taxes,” Ailes continued. “But, you know, at some point, having a class warfare going on is counterproductive to the long-term interests of the country.”
Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com
