Fox News CEO Defends Decision to Hire Geraldo



by Brent Baker

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes received some negative e-mails from viewers last week after he announced the signing of Geraldo Rivera as a war correspondent, prompting Ailes to respond in a letter to viewers, published in FNC's weekly e-mail newsletter, The Balance Sheet. Ailes promised that Rivera's hiring does not contradict the Fox News Channel's commitment “to fair and balanced news.”

Pursuing Rivera is nothing new for Ailes, who is cartoonishly portrayed by those on the left as a right-wing partisan hack building a channel to serve GOP interests. His interest in Rivera shows he puts a high priority on landing personalities who will attract viewers no matter what their ideology. Ailes brought Rivera to CNBC in the first place when he ran that channel and in 1997 he reportedly offered Rivera a showcase role in prime time on the new Fox News Channel as well as on the Fox broadcast network if he would leave CNBC, an offer which NBC countered by promising Rivera prime time specials on NBC, appearances on Today and his own CNBC news show, the since-canceled Upfront Tonight.

As Lisa de Moraes reported in the November 2 Washington Post: “The new deal reunites Rivera with Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes, who was President of CNBC when Rivera began working there in '94. Ailes subsequently tried to bring Rivera to FNC in '97; that resulted instead in Rivera's lucrative deal with NBC News.”

From the November 2 The Balance Sheet e-mail newsletter from FNC, the Ailes reply to those who complained about Rivera joining FNC:

Thank you for your letters. Geraldo Rivera has had a long and controversial career and I disagree with many of the things he has said in his life. However, I don't hire only people who agree with me. Geraldo is being hired as a war correspondent. He has been in action in Bosnia and covered the drug wars in South America. He is fearless and has a record of doing exemplary work on issues such as mental health, drugs, and war, just to name a few.

Geraldo, by his own admission, has made mistakes in his career. But at his core, he is a solid journalist. Frankly, he could have made millions of dollars more by staying in his safe NBC contract, but he elected to go in harm's way to cover the biggest story of our time. He, like many of us, has been changed by the events of September 11th. That doesn't mean we will all agree on every issue, but it does mean that Fox News Channel is truly committed to fair and balanced news. I have great confidence in the American people to make up their own minds if they hear all the facts.

I'm not sure if I will be able to convince people whose minds are made up, but while very opinionated, you strike me as viewers who may be open to at least a wait-and-see attitude. I appreciate your opinions. Please keep watching the Fox News Channel even if you don't agree with all 168 hours a week. We do our best, we are making a difference, and we are #1.

It would be nice if other network news chiefs took viewer concerns as seriously.

In her November 2 story, de Moraes outlined why Rivera decided to leave CNBC in two weeks and how he's taking a big cut in his $6 million annual pay.

An excerpt:

….On Nov. 17, the day after his last appearance on CNBC's Rivera Live, he will be dispatched to the Afghanistan region, where he'll join FNC's other recent hiring coup, former CNN correspondent Steve Harrigan, in providing live reports.

Rivera was four years into a six-year pact with NBC News that paid him about $6 million per year to host the CNBC prime-time talker, host quarterly prime-time NBC News specials on the broadcast network and appear regularly on the Today show….

Rivera said he's leaving because he's sick of being told he can't leave his anchor desk, like when he recently pitched that his next NBC prime-time special be on why Muslims hate America.

“They said I couldn't leave the country because of the program,” Rivera said. “It was a constant irritant; I want to go where the story is and they'd say, 'What's the domestic angle?'

“It got to the point after September 11 where I couldn't bear it anymore,” said Rivera, who says that 15 parents of children at his kids' elementary school were killed in the World Trade Center attacks.

“I've always seen myself, certainly in the last four or five, six years, as a newsman first and a talk show host second,” he said.

Rivera told The TV Column he's taking “a significant pay cut” to move to FNC….

On his CNBC show last night, Rivera told viewers he was leaving NBC and heading to the We Report, You Decide Network because “I'm not the same guy I was before the maniacs tried to tear our hearts out.

“I'm feeling more patriotic than at any time in my life. Itching for justice — or maybe just revenge.”

I predict you'll eventually see Geraldo in FNC's prime time. How could they resist a prime time of ratings-getters Bill O'Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, plus Geraldo?

(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)

Subscribe to CE
(It's free)

Go to Catholic Exchange homepage

MENU