Fox News founder Roger Ailes dies at 77

When Rupert Murdoch launched a 24-hour news channel nearly two decades ago, he turned to Roger Ailes, a brash, veteran TV producer and strategist for Republican presidential candidates who helped get Richard Nixon and George W. Bush elected by improving their images through television.

Murdoch contended that a conservative cable news network was needed to counter “liberal” CNN.

Ailes, however, told the Los Angeles Times in 1996 that the new network would not have any political bias. “We just expect to do fine, balanced journalism,” he said.

Ailes, 77, who died Thursday, would go on to create a cable news juggernaut at Fox News that provided an outlet for conservatives who felt their views were underrepresented by the three broadcast networks.

“Roger Ailes understood the power of television to shape the public agenda more than most, and he used it to great partisan effect in supporting an ideology focused on conservatives,” said Rich Hanley, associate professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University.

Ailes was ousted in July 2016 after allegations that he had sexually harassed former anchor Gretchen Carlson. He dismissed the allegations, but he faced additional claims of misconduct and Fox News paid $20 million to settle the suit. Ailes died after falling at home and injuring his head, according to the Palm Beach County, Fla., medical examiner’s office. It said the cause of death was complications of a subdural hematoma, with hemophilia as a contributing factor.

Ailes was known to be in poor health. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE

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