3 Review(s)

No book has ever been published on the remarkable figure of Roger Ailes, former Republican political consultant and current president of Fox News Channel - a dominant media figure of our age: "Dark Genius" is the definitive study of Ailes and his controversial career. In 1960 Ailes, a young TV producer, absorbed the lessons of the new video age and put them into practice. He met Richard Nixon, who soon hired him and riding the wave of that triumph, Ailes went on to aid other key Republican figures like Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani.In the 90s, Ailes was hired to run CNBC, the first cable financial network and then, Rupert Murdoch hired him to implement the media mogul's vision for a different kind of cable news network. Ailes has played a key role in the growing reach of conservatism, first in politics, then in mass media. Part history, part media criticism, part current events, "Dark Genius" tracks the rise, dominance and relevance of political television and how it has been used and abused by its master.