If you want to see how vexatiously polarised the US (and Media Commentators there in particular) has become just look at Twitter this afternoon in reaction to this news.
It's a difficult one because he was never arrested or charged with anything. There were several sexual harassment claims - where they ever sorted?
For better or worse, he changed cable news in delivering to a specific audience, going with right wing agenda and I would say changed how we view 'breaking news'.
And when Ailes died this morning, he left behind an America perfectly in his image, frightened out of its mind and pouring its money hand over fist into television companies, who are gleefully selling the unraveling of our political system as an entertainment product.
The extent to which we hate and fear each other now – that's not any one person's fault. But no one person was more at fault than Roger Ailes. He never had a soul to sell, so he sold ours. It may take 50 years or a century for us to recover. Even dictators rarely have that kind of impact. Enjoy the next life, you monster.
I'm not one for dancing on graves by any means, but history class would be pretty boring and ineffective if we didn't look at public figures' lives critically. Roger Ailes' accomplishments in his lifetime are nothing to celebrate.
One thing I would disagree with on that piece though is that I don't really think Roger Ailes is responsible for President Trump. Jeff Zucker is, more than any other television executive.
It is extraordinary how one man who understood the power of television and took what we see in the UK as unifying medium and used it for such a destructive partisan purpose.
It is also noteworthy that in the Trump administration all the big stories are being broken by the New York Times and Washington Post and not CNN, MSNBC or Fox News.
Correction : "One of hosts of The Five has been sacked....
Again
"
Beckel was previously fired in 2015 after a an unexplained string of absences where the now-former Fox News executive Bill Shine remarked "We can't hold a show hostage over one man's problems"
Because Hannity until recently continued to push a conspiracy theory into the death of young man and the Clintons and Wikileaks, a story which has been walked back by Fox News itself...it seems that so far one advertiser, for now has pulled its advertising from his show. Yes its only one, but this bears watching. But it could this be a significant trend as Hannity continues to tarnish FNC's perceived "credibility".... pushing crazy right-wing conspiracy theories, even though the family of the slain man in this latest theory has asked them to stop pushing this story..... amongst other outlets.
They have seen a slump in their ratings. Possible temporary blip? Who can say. Their Manchester Arena coverage was number 1 for the night, over 3Mil. But this rise of MSNBC seems significant after dwelling in the basement for many years.
