The Loudest Voice In The Room: How Roger Ailes And Fox News Remade American Politics (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
This good-but-not-great book tells the detailed story of Roger Ailes first rise in the political world, then second, much larger rise in the world of media, but combined with that, to head Fox News.It also shows how Ailes has not only become more and more of an a-hole along the way, but paranoid, and seemingly not just in a folk sense but a more narrowly psychological one. Sherman details this through Ailes' move up the Hudson with his current wife to a small town near West Point, where he eventually buys the community paper, only to find, as Sherman puts it, that the Fox News bombast model doesn't scale down to the local level.Well, at least not there. But, Sherman, while noting that Ailes was undone here in part by the rise of the Net, which in this case created online competition to the Putnam County Journal, that Putnam County, NY, isn't exactly small-county red-state Texas, Mississippi, or Oklahoma.That's a lesser flaw to two bigger shortcomings, though.First, Sherman notes that at one time, Ailes, like Rush Limbaugh, claimed this was all about entertainment. But later in the book, and far before the end, it's clear that Ailes really believes all of this, including black-helicopter level paranoia.Problem is that Sherman never, other than vague tie-ins to 9/11, really explains what lead to this.Second problem is his willingness to paint Rupert Murdoch as being good cop at times to Ailes bad cop. The reality of social psychology, though, is that when two people agree to play "good cop, bad cop," they're really both agreeing to play bad cop. If this is a "biography" then it's not a good one--not very well written, tabloid in its approach with all sorts of outside works quoted instead of primary sources, and obviously written to try to make Ailes look hypocritical and untruthful. The author makes no attempt to be objective and subjectively inserts his opinionated conclusions at will instead of finding facts that stand for themselves.The problems with the book start right away when the author gives us a pop psychology analysis of Ailes' upbringing, then jumps to the Mike Douglas Show and states just plain factually incorrect information. To claim that the Douglas Show started to decline in popularity in 1968 and then spent the next decade wallowing in low ratings is not true. To say that Douglas was old-fashioned by 1970 is again wrong and shows a lack of understanding of early TV talk shows (trust me--I know because I've done the research and written a book on it). Namely, the author takes bits of information that he knows nothing about, then pieces them together to draw a conclusion that will make Ailes look less impressive. Once I read the distortion of the Douglas Show I knew I couldn't trust the rest of the book. I'm no Ailes defender and the guy does feel like a pushy behind-the-scenes jerk who loves wielding power. But to claim he's the most powerful man in America (as this author does) is ridiculous--he runs a network that has shows that average only 1 to 2% of the population, and most of those are over 60 years old. It's obvious that Ailes tries to use his network to push a political viewpoint, but he also hired a bunch of liberals that he disagrees with and his interest seems more to be to put on a great show than to force a conservative agenda down anyone's throat. He could just as easily be hired away by CNN and turn that network around because he is a showman and understands the entertainment aspect of news and politics. Too bad this book is so poorly written (by a first time author!? ha!) and seems to do the same thing Ailes is accused of by offering a biased view of the subject instead of fair and balanced truth.
What do You think about The Loudest Voice In The Room: How Roger Ailes And Fox News Remade American Politics (2014)?
I am not a Roger Ailes fan, but this was a decent read. Ailes is part maniacal and part genius.
—andie
Fascinating look at the phenomenon of the Faux News empire's controlling personality.
—brianna
Very well written very quick read. Frustrating how easily manipulated we can be.
—michelababe
Great insight into the mind of the creator of Fox News
—iqbadbollen
Curiously fascinating and vaguely historical
—sabeena
