Roger Ailes Says He’s Not Going Anywhere, And News Corp.’s Chase Carey Concurs

Reports of Fox News impresario Roger Ailes’ demise, to paraphrase Mark Twain, may be greatly exaggerated.

“News Corp. is 100% behind Roger Ailes,” News Corp. President Chase Carey said, adding, “we hope and expect he will continue to lead Fox News well into the future.” Ailes’ current contract runs until 2013.

Although he oversees one of the most important units of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and is coming off a year of huge ratings and profits, Internet speculation about Ailes being a short-timer at the company led Carey to get on the phone with us and douse water on the brush fire. Besides Fox News and Fox Business, Ailes also oversees the Fox TV stations and is one of a handful of News Corp. executives who report directly to Rupert Murdoch.

The rumors about Ailes were fueled by a quote from Matthew Freud, the husband of Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth and a PR guru, whose clients include Fox News rival CNN, according to his website. Freud criticized Ailes and Fox News in an otherwise fairly flattering New York Times story about the executive on Sunday.

Read More: By Joe Flint, LA TIMES

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