Affidavits Say Fox News Chief Told Employee to Lie

[RamboLiberal]

Source: New York Times

It was an incendiary allegation — and a mystery of great intrigue in the media world: After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation, had encouraged her to lie to federal investigators two years before.

The investigators had been vetting Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who had been nominated to become secretary of Homeland Security and who had had an affair with Ms. Regan.

The goal of the News Corporation executive, according to Ms. Regan, was to keep the affair quiet and protect the then-nascent presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor and supporter.

But Ms. Regan never revealed the identity of the executive, even as her allegation made headlines and she brought a wrongful termination suit against HarperCollins and News Corporation.

But now, affidavits filed in a separate lawsuit reveal the identity of the previously unnamed executive: Roger E. Ailes, chairman of Fox News.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/nyregion/25roger-ailes.html?_r=1&hp

[maddezmom]

1. this could get interesting

K&R

[rfranklin]

14. It's more than lying, it is obstruction of justice...

I think that's about five years in prison...for regular citizens. For a supersized Fox executive it probably means dismissal and drinks all around after court lets out if it ever gets that far.

[NoSheep]

39. The Fox paradigm is obstruction of justice. I've never heard it put better.

:thumbsup:

[Enrique]

2. there goes Ailes' reputation

;-)

[Robbien]

7. There goes my monitor

:spray:

lol

[apnu]

19. He had a reputation?

;-)

[EFerrari]

28. LOL

:)

[realisticphish]

30. haha nt

[Hutzpa]

31. Did Ailes ever had a reputation? n/t

[Enthusiast]

46. Yeah, we'll never trust him again.

:rofl:

[Drale]

3. And this surprises anyone?

Fox Lies, its a fact.

[movonne]

8. Fox news lies every time it opens its mouth...propaganda, propaganda...

[liberal N proud]

4. Lying is a corporate value for the FOX News corporation

They thrive on it. It is their entire business model.

[stillwaiting]

22. Well now you're just not being fair and balanced!

Bald faced lies deserve to be treated as valid viewpoints on events due to the fact that many Americans REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want them to be true.

[BanzaiBonnie]

5. Lying liars and the lies they tell

[Sanity Claws]

6. Subornation of perjury

It's a crime.

Anyone willing to prosecute?
Anyone willing to use this as a reason why Fox should not have its FCC license renewed?

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. Bingo!

If true, what Ailes did was a crime in any jurisdiction.

[RamboLiberal]

11. +1 and Obama Justice Dept will probably let it slide

aaaargh!

[yesphan]

12. Yup.

Absolutely nothing will come of this.

[Frisbee]

13. que the crickets. eom

[PSPS]

40. Fox News is a cable channel, so it needs no FCC license.

[quakerboy]

50. I dont know about you

But there has been a local broadcast fox station in every city I have ever lived in.

That said, this seems more a matter of "why aren't there charges against Ailes" rather than "yank them from the air"

[sakabatou]

44. Wouldn't it be perjury only if they were under oath?

None of these guys are under oath. However, they ARE fucking liars

[fasttense]

47. Conspiring to lie to federal officials is illegal, only if you are one of the little people,

"Depending on the specifics, the taped conversation could possibly rise to the level of conspiring to lie to federal officials, a federal crime, but prosecutors rarely pursue such cases, said Daniel C. Richman, a Columbia University law professor and a former federal prosecutor."

But with a well place bribe the charges can be made to go away.

"In a statement released on Wednesday, a News Corporation spokeswoman did not deny that Mr. Ailes was the executive on the recording. But the spokeswoman, Teri Everett, said News Corporation had a letter from Ms. Regan “stating that Mr. Ailes did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation.” Ms. Everett added, “The matter is closed.”"

Not trying to influence her with respect to a government investigation???? Yeah, right.

All of this comes out because she is trying to avoid paying her lawyers.

"The new documents emerged as part of a lawsuit filed in 2008 in which Ms. Regan’s former lawyers in the News Corporation case accused her of firing them on the eve of the settlement to avoid paying them a 25 percent contingency fee."

When you lie down with dogs and fleas......

[Lil Missy]

10. I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!

:wow:

[yurbud]

15. if Giuliani was involved, maybe he could be reunited with Kerik, and they could polish each other's

knobs in prison.

[W T F]

53. Rudy Won't last long in prison.........

[defendandprotect]

16. K

[SpiralHawk]

17. No surprise. Anyone with discernment knows Fox lies & spins all the time

Ptoooey on the Fox - Republicon propaganda...

[SoapBox]

18. Ailes is scum...pure scum.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. It's a shame a transcript of the tape wasn't in the court records

With that this would have been damning indeed.

[RedCloud]

21. More newshounds nab the fox!

[sakabatou]

23. Fox News telling people to lie?! IT CAN'T BE!!!

:sarcasm:

[Kingofalldems]

24. Uh oh--Ailes little pallies aint liking this one

[Scurrilous]

25. K & R

:thumbsup:

[era veteran]

26. K&R

[Bill USA]

27. recommended.

[GreenTea]

29. Is anyone surprised? Ailes is the same asshole who demands lies at republican Fox 'news' 24/7!

[Plucketeer]

32. This made me instantly recollect the footage..

...of the protester in Madison - screaming "FOX LIES" at the Fox reporters there. It's a crying shame that more folks don't screw up Fox's coverage with that simple proclamation. I think it should be the ONLY thing uttered by anyone they interview from the "other side".

[SleeplessinSoCal]

33. This seems unfair. Everyone knows Republicans must lie in order to succeed.

[Grassy Knoll]

34. But,but,but.....

MSNBC and CNN did it too.

:sarcasm:

[CanonRay]

35. Another indictment that will never happen with our gutless DOJ

I've given up hope of them ever enforcing anything but drug laws.

[Kingofalldems]

36. Kick this important story

[DeSwiss]

37. K&R n/t

[Kurovski]

38. Oh deary me.

K&R.

[DLnyc]

41. Wow, what a nest of rats!

Kerik, who pleaded guilty in a case charging conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and lying to the Internal Revenue Service, had an affair with Regan who was maybe gonna talk about that so Ailes encouraged Regan to lie about her affair to investigators and then defamed her so she sues News Corp but then at the last minute, to get out of paying them, she fires her lawyers, the head of whose firm was later charged with a $100 million fraud scheme, casting his firm into bankruptcy.

Boy, Rudy Guiliani sure has a nice bunch of friends!

[Bozita]

42. Shocked, shocked I tell you

:toast:

[No Elephants]

43. This made me smile. If that's wrong, do I really want to be right?

Ailes, Kerik and Guiiani in one scandal.

[Turborama]

45. The Guardian: Fox News boss persuaded fellow executive to 'lie' to federal investigators

Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011 23.07 GMT



The chairman of the right-wing current affairs channel, Fox News, Roger Ailes, has been named in court documents as the previously anonymous executive who allegedly tried to persuade a fellow boss at News Corporation to lie to federal investigators over a crucial Washington appointment.

The New York Times reported court documents had become available that for the first time name Ailes as the mysterious executive involved in the allegations. The claims were initially made in November 2007 by Judith Regan, one of Rupert Murdoch's rising stars in News Corporation until she was dismissed the previous year in a row over her decision to publish a book with OJ Simpson.

In her unfair dismissal claim against her former employers, Regan claimed that a News Corporation senior executive had tried to secure her silence during the process to vet Bernard Kerik as the US head of homeland security. Regan had been having an affair with Kerik, and she alleged in her lawsuit that the unnamed executive had wanted her to keep quiet about it during the vetting procedure in order to protect Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who had appointed Kerik as New York police commissioner and was Kerik's main supporter. Giuliani was at the time considering a run for the White House in 2008 and the revelations could have rubbed off adversely on him.

The identity of the executive has long been a topic of speculation in New York media circles. Now, according to the New York Times, the mystery is solved as Ailes is named in a separate court case in 2008.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/24/fox-news-corporation-federal-investigators

I LOVE the Guardian's description of Faux in the intro. They forgot to add "far", though.

[DirkGently]

48. Yech. Regan's awful too. Let's hear that tape, though.

[HughBeaumont]

49. Roger Failes.

Way to go, dickface.

Not like anything's going to happen to him, EVER.

But he's still a dickface.

[AlbertCat]

51. The Ailes thing is nice. But...

... what I wanna know is

who has an affair with the likes of Kerik????? What is the appeal?

[felix_numinous]

52. Mmmm good

:popcorn:

[femrap]

54. I hope his

punishment is worse than the crime....since he has committed so many more of them and never was punished.


ETA: Maybe he'll roll over on Murdoch!!!!