Founder of Fox News
Born: May 15, 1940;
Died: May 18, 2017
ROGER Ailes, who has died aged 77, was a political advisor and media mogul who founded the Fox News Channel and in the process, depending on your point of view, tackled the inherent left-wing bias in the American media or created an outlet for frenzied right-wing views that helped pave the way for Donald Trump.
Whichever view you take, Ailes certainly transformed television news by creating a news channel that quickly became the ratings leader in the United States, although he was ousted at the height of his reign for alleged sexual harassment.
A former Republican party operative to candidates including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Snr, Ailes later turned his media skills towards running TV networks.
In early 1996 he accepted a challenge from media mogul Rupert Murdoch to build a news network from scratch to compete with CNN.
That October, Ailes flipped the switch on the Fox News Channel, which went on to become the audience leader in US cable news.
It also emerged as a powerful force on the political scene, with Ailes dismissing criticism that the network he branded as "fair and balanced" had a conservative bias.
However, he was abruptly dismissed from Fox News in July 2016 in the wake of a lawsuit filed by former anchor Gretchen Carlson accusing him of sexual inproprieties.
Ailes was born in Warren, Ohio, to a working class family and developed his love and fascination for television while housebound with hemophilia. After university, he started working at a TV station in Cleveland and worked his way up to becoming a producer.
He then moved to Philadelphia where he crossed paths with Richard Nixon. Nixon needed some media advice for his second attempt at the presidency in 1968 and Ailes convinced him that he was the man for the job.
Ailes then spent more than a decade as a communications advisor to several Republican candidates including Ronald Reagan during the 1984 election campaign. He also ran the media for George Bush Snr's presidential bid in 1988.
By the early 1990s, Ailes had moved full-time into television, working for CNBC, but in 1996 he accepted the challenge from Rupert Murdoch to create an original news network from scratch that could compete with others that Murdoch saw as too left-leaning.
From the start, Ailes boasted that his network was different. "My first qualification is I didn't go to Columbia Journalism School," he said. "There are no parties in this town that I want to go to." He also promised fairness from the channel shortly before it launched: "Will they hit it every time? Hell, no. Will they try? Hell, yes. Will we be criticised? Hell, yes. Do I care? Hell, no."
Once launched, it did not take long for the channel to become a success and for almost 20 years Ailes was at its pinnacle until scandal broke in 2016. Allegations of sexual impropriety were made by more than 20 women and Murdoch decided that Ailes had to go.
Speaking after news of Ailes's death, Murdoch said: "A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America's media over the last 30 years.
"He will be remembered by the many people on both sides of the camera that he discovered, nurtured and promoted.
"Roger and I shared a big idea which he executed in a way no-one else could have. In addition, Roger was a great patriot who never ceased fighting for his beliefs."
Gabriel Sherman, author of a biography of Ailes, The Loudest Voice in the Room, said his legacy was mixed. "It's a very complicated story," she said. ''He is in some ways a genius and in some ways tragic. His quest for power consumed him."
With Ailes' sacking, Rupert Murdoch, the parent company's executive chairman, became interim boss of Fox News and Fox Business Network.
Ailes is survived by his third wife, Elizabeth, who had worked for him at CNBC as vice president of programming, and their son, Zachary.
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