Journalist Gabriel Sherman was a thorn in deposed Fox News chief Roger Ailes' side, and Ailes used a secret News Corp–financed "Black Room" to organize a counterattack against him and other perceived enemies, Sherman reported in New York on Sunday, citing "a senior Fox source." The operation, housed on the quiet 14th floor of News Corp's Manhattan headquarters, came to light as Fox News executives started combing through the network's budget, Sherman reports, which Ailes reportedly controlled with little to no oversight, including to pay out millions of dollars in sexual harassment settlements.
Ailes' "Black Room" involved "consultants, political operatives, and private detectives who reported only to him," Sherman says, and Fox News has already dismissed "five consultants whom Ailes had hired to do work that was more about advancing his own agenda than Fox's." Among those fired was Bert Solivan, who reportedly "ran negative PR campaigns against Ailes' personal and political enemies out of Fox News headquarters."
The Ailes operation targeted not just Sherman but also Gawker's John Cook and Hamilton Nolan, and Joe Lindsley, former editor of the Putnam County News and Recorder, Ailes' local newspaper in New York's Hudson Valley. All of the targeted journalists were followed by private detectives, Sherman says, and operatives prepared reports aimed at discrediting the journalists. Ailes' attorney, Susan Estrich, said the "allegations are totally false." You can read more at New York.
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