Fox News may have taken the ‘Never Trump’ movement to heart according to recently published reports.
Michael Wolff, journalist for the Hollywood Reporter, wrote a column in which he described conversations he had with the late Roger Ailes, CEO and founder of Fox News.
Within the report, Ailes allegedly confided to Wolff that Rupert Murdoch, the executive chair of Fox News, instructed him to “tilt to anyone but Trump.”
The assumption being that what Murdoch wanted tilted was Fox News’ coverage and, by extension, the election.
Worse, in a conversation before Ailes was forced out at the network, he indicated that Murdoch’s request to “tilt to anyone” truly meant anyone, “even Hillary.”
Via the Hollywood Reporter:
It was Ailes’ tacit support of Trump that, in part, made his removal from Fox all the more urgent for the Murdochs. And it was not just the liberal sons who were agitated by Ailes’ regard for Trump, but also the father, whose tabloid, the New York Post, helped create Trump, but who found him now, with great snobbery, not of “our” conservative class.
(“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” Murdoch senior tweeted the day after Trump officially declared himself a candidate.)
Murdoch instructed Ailes to tilt to anyone but Trump, Ailes confided to me before he was fired, even Hillary. (Ailes, for his part, characterized Murdoch’s periodic efforts at interference as similar to Nixon’s instructions to bomb this or that country — best ignored.)
Here is the above referenced tweet …
When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let
alone the whole country?— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) July 19, 2015
According to Wolff, Murdoch was forced to tuck his tail between his legs after the election and seek out friends of his ex-wife, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, to repair his relationship with President Trump.
New strains in that relationship have resurfaced recently, however.
Reading the Murdoch tea leaves: First NY Post’s Don Jr. “idiot” editorial, then Sun leak, and now WSJ criticism https://t.co/qj7EhOnAKA
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 18, 2017
Mordoch’s newspapers, most notably the Wall Street Journal, have grown increasingly critical of the President.
A recent editorial claimed that Washington “will destroy Mr. Trump, his family and their business reputation unless they change their strategy toward the Russia probe.”
Murdoch and his sons have been accused of moving the network in a more leftward angle, with rumors that they were involved in pressuring Sean Hannity to temper his commentary on the Seth Rich case, and speculation that they were also behind the firing of another major star, Bill O’Reilly.
Do you think Fox News ’tilted’ their coverage away from Donald Trump during the election? Tell us what you think below!