Politics of Winning Put Pressure on Fox News

ABC News President David Westin hosted a lunch of crab cakes and scallops on risotto for politicians and press during the Republican National Convention. CNN’s Chairman Tom Johnson wandered through the media tents here, too, and CBS News President Andrew Heyward popped up on panels. Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes? He slipped in on Monday and out Tuesday, barely staying 24 hours.

In his brief time in Philadelphia, Ailes didn’t even take a victory lap, although he was arguably entitled to one. The cable network, which wasn’t yet on the air at the time of the 1996 political nominating conventions, came on strong in Philadelphia, with ratings that gave bigger, seemingly entrenched rival CNN a run for its money, beating it at several key times.

And Fox outdrew better-funded MSNBC, which had the seeming advantage of being hosted by Tom Brokaw, whose “NBC Nightly News” is the most popular evening newscast, and Tim Russert, anchor of the top-rated Sunday newsmaker show.

Ailes’ low profile was interesting simply because of who he is.

The Republicans, after all, are home turf for Ailes, whose political career dates back to Richard Nixon. As George Bush’s media advisor, Ailes helped put the father of this year’s Republican nominee, George W. Bush, in the White House. Although Ailes has worked strenuously for a decade to distance himself publicly from politics, Fox, which calls itself “fair and balanced,” has built its reputation on playing to the right.

Indeed, wags turn another Fox slogan--”We report, you decide”--into “We distort, you deride.”

Now, all eyes will be on whether Fox can sustain its success when the Democrats meet in Los Angeles. Fox executives have downplayed expectations all week, but clearly they are nervous about their big test on potentially hostile territory.

The just-wrapped Republican convention and next week’s Democratic convention are key moments for Fox, anchor Brit Hume notes, because it is a time when viewers are surfing around and allegiances can be swayed. “We made a huge commitment to political coverage,” he says. “When your motto and creed and pledge to viewers is fair and balanced news, it’s not easy to show when we’re covering fires and floods and train wrecks. By and large, when you show fairness and balance is when [you’re] covering political stories.”

Ailes, who is also not expected to make an appearance in Los Angeles, says he stayed away from Philadelphia because he felt it was in capable hands and didn’t want to get in the way. But, in staying away, he also avoided appearances that it was “old home week.”

“I just don’t talk about politics,” Ailes says, in an interview, of his past. “I haven’t done it for 10 years.” He clearly chafes at the association with his past, noting, “I find it amusing they never ask Tim Russert [a former Mario Cuomo aide] about politics, they never ask Diane Sawyer [a former Richard Nixon aide] about politics, and even ABC doesn’t ask [former Bill Clinton spokesman George] Stephanopoulos about politics any more.”

Indeed, Ailes likes to insist that he is hands-off when it comes to coverage, particularly of politics. “I’ve stayed out of it, except to act as a consultant,” he says. But he trips up when talking animatedly about the network’s original “Fox Swing State Advantage” poll, which will be a big part of fall coverage. Asked who devised the poll, he admits, somewhat sheepishly, that it was his idea.

Ailes says his network “ends up with more conservative stuff on air because we cover both sides,” unlike his rivals, whom he blames for spreading the notion that Fox is unbalanced. “They would rather attack us than balance their own news. That’s OK with us; all they’re doing is driving viewers to us.”

But if Ailes and Fox had hoped to use the Republican convention to dismiss any doubters who think it doesn’t harbor a closetful of conservatives, its own Tony Snow killed that plan. Media rivals were astonished on the convention’s second day to look up at monitors showing gavel-to-gavel proceedings, and see Snow, a Fox anchor, speaking from the official convention podium. He was addressing a GOP youth group, as Fox executives themselves soon discovered after learning about Snow’s appearance from a New York Daily News reporter who happened to see Snow on cable network C-SPAN.

Snow, who agreed to speak at the last minute after the original Republican speaker canceled, insisted that he had no idea the meeting was part of the official program. After a debate over whether to order Snow home, Fox reprimanded him instead, and Snow apologized. But many at Fox were furious, although Hume says that “it would be very refreshing if other networks ever acknowledged something improper like that,” referring to CNN President Rick Kaplan’s close personal ties to President Bill Clinton. Indeed, CNN’s Johnson, a former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, was on Lyndon Johnson’s staff for a time.

The Snow affair, Ailes says, created “a perceptual problem,” so he offered to have Snow address an equivalent Democratic group, but received no response.

In the eyes of some in the industry, Fox’s success has less to do with politics than with the fact that it just puts on a better show. Partly for cost reasons, Fox didn’t do nearly as much all-day convention program as CNN, but it also allowed viewers a breather from the heavy dose of politics everyone else was distributing.

Just as Ailes was present at the creation of the melding of show business, politics and news while running “The Mike Douglas Show,” “Roger was really ahead of the curve on figuring out that cable viewers want opinion,” says one veteran producer. Prime-time ratings have soared with the scheduling of highly opinionated anchors such as Bill O’Reilly. When anchor Shepard Smith recently got into an on-air debate with O.J. Simpson, producers let the verbal sparring go on even when Smith actually undermined himself, reading testimony from Simpson’s trial that backed up Simpson, who ultimately hung up in disgust. Fox executives’ attitude? It made for great television.

“If ‘fair and balanced’ is boring, why not watch C-SPAN,” says Hume, who nevertheless describes himself as a fan of the no-nonsense cable network, as well as of PBS’ “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” “We’re livelier and we do try to be lively. Nobody else is really in the game.”

Success in Philly Wasn’t Obvious

If the Philadelphia convention could be considered a prep for what the news channel will face in Los Angeles, the difficult moments may be behind it. But, initially, it wasn’t so obvious that the GOP show would go well. At a noon planner on opening day, Hume, a former convention floor correspondent for ABC, doesn’t appear so confident that the week will go well.

As executive producer Marty Ryan walks his troops through the opening minutes of the night’s coverage--who will speak first, which camera to look to--Hume lectures his colleagues on the difficulties ahead, with suggestions on everything from using a neon-colored paper to help the camera locate a floor producer to whom the correspondents should interview: prominent members of Congress, the impeachment managers, delegates pledged to John McCain. And he announces he and co-anchor Paula Zahn will be looking for that old convention staple: the silliest buttons, hats, over-the-top outfits and best slogan.

Opening night is tense. During off-air breaks, Hume barks at the control room when the panel of political analysts doesn’t show up at the booth on time. The cramped control room--really a truck--has its own problems, with no way to determine if on-air guests are showing up as scheduled in the preparatory “Green Room” far away at the convention center. It takes so long to get around to floor correspondent Rita Cosby that her guest is looking aimlessly away from the camera when her interview finally starts.

By night two, however, it’s going more smoothly, although in the booth there is a critical shortage of earpieces for the monitors that allow the anchors and panelists to hear producers. Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed walks in right on time, and Hume advises him on how to adjust his tie. While Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is waiting for his interview to start, the anchors tell him where to find Fox on his home satellite dish. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a close Ailes friend, bustles in.

And the panel shows up on time, although they are still working out the complex rhythm of who talks when and Hume cuts off Fox’s “Beltway Boy” Mort Kondracke so he can ask his own question. When the camera goes to the floor to show a New Hampshire delegate, Hume asks everyone for a name, which he works smoothly into his patter, only to learn that producers misunderstood his question and gave him wrong IDs.

Lower Expectations at Second Convention?

Fox is already setting itself up for lowered expectations in Los Angeles. Hume notes that the Democratic debates didn’t draw as much viewer interest as the Republicans and that the second convention is always at a disadvantage. Asked about whether the Democrats will ice out Fox when it comes to booking guests, Hume notes that, in the case of nominee Al Gore, who has appeared on Fox in the past, “I would not imagine that we’d be the first booth he’d come to.” But, in any case, Hume is quick to point out, the network won’t be using as many guests in Los Angeles, because it decided partway through the Republican convention that viewers really want to see what’s happening on the convention floor, not listen to anchors “conducting a political symposium that happens to be located at the convention.”

The cable news channel, more than its rivals, carried the “totally meaningless roll call” of the states, according to Hume, because of the texture that it could provide. “Some things are insufferable,” he said, but in Los Angeles, “my preoccupation will be to be sure to bring viewers the convention and, we’ll be looking for opportunities to go to the floor correspondents more than we did, we’ll be looking not to get caught up in the booth.”

Beyond L.A., there is some concern at Fox about what will happen to ratings if the Republicans win the White House, leaving conservatives nothing to rail against and denying Fox some of its conflict.

Still, Ailes, who is in the midst of negotiating a new contract, is given credit in the industry for bringing the channel to life when many said it couldn’t be done; indeed, the Fox broadcast network had tried many times without success to launch a news division. The channel is on schedule to break even operationally by the end of the year, provided there aren’t too many plane crashes or wars to saddle it with excessive news-gathering costs. “You tell me what the news will be and I’ll tell you whether we make it,” says Ailes.

Ailes--a new father who showed pictures of his 7-month-old son on C-SPAN Friday--could be given broader duties in the new contract. Although negotiations have recently slowed and some sticking points remain, internally most expect him to sign a new deal.