THE LOUDEST VOICE-ME?

I finally had a chance to watch the 7 part Showtime series, The Loudest Voice. It’s about the rise of The Fox News Channel and Roger Ailes, the alleged demented, perverted, genius behind the cable news giant. Ailes who passed away back in 2017 left behind a legacy that included a decades long list of sexual allegations including the biggest one of them all by former Fox News host, Gretchen Carlson who reportedly settled for some 20 million dollars. Those allegations cost Ailes his career. Soon after he died.
As a former Senior News Producer, you might say I was a fly on the wall during my ten years with the network. Though I left back in 2010, the series brought back a flood of memories for me. From conversations with Ailes that included his prolific four letter rants to conversations with the hilarious former PR Guru, Brian Lewis to chats with Carlson who sat right next to me in the 1211 Ave. of the Americas, underground news room.
To think that one day Russell Crowe, Seth Macfarlane and Naomi Watts would portray the trio, well that’s a little mind blowing! Also mind blowing that the man I reported to, Vice President of Editorial, John Moody would be a character on the series too, portrayed by Mackenzie Astin. From my standpoint, I think writer Gabriel Sherman hit a homerun because the folks I saw seemed like the people I knew, especially Moody.
To me, there would be no Fox News if not for Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes and John Moody. Those were the big three. A football analogy, If Murdoch were New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, Ailes would be Bill Belichick and Moody, Tom Brady. The Patriots win because of an owner who knows who to trust, a Head Coach who knows how to win but most importantly a Quarterback who always wins. Moody always won. While sharing Ailes’ right wing philosophy, Moody nevertheless, unlike Ailes wasn’t a showman, he was a newsman and he still believed in the power of accurate reporting. It was his mandate, you reported the news as it happened. Moody was the man behind the news, not the nonsense behind the commentary. You didn’t sprinkle it with half truths, you were not there to win elections, or start armed conflict by parroting a right wing agenda. That was Ailes, that was Hannity, that was O’Reilly. That was never Moody.
Ailes believed in the power he had to influence Washington. Moody believed in the power of the pen. As a result, I was quite satisfied that the Moody character was true to form, a newsman disagreeing with Ailes on topics including Iraq and WMD’s. Moody never saw the smoking gun, Ailes did and in the end Moody, was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Regarding Carlson, my relationship with her wasn’t much more than “hello” but I watched her operate on a daily basis. She was very serious and focused off camera. On camera, she knew how to sell Fox News. bubbly to the point of being outrageous, she did her best to make Fox & Friends a fun place for viewers to spend their mornings. Little did I know, she was dealing with Ailes’ horrific sexual advances. Not that I could have helped her but little did I know, I was sitting next to an American hero. A remarkable woman.
I’ll admit I loved Fox News until I could no longer love it. For those that hate Fox News, I highly recommend The Loudest Voice and for those who love Fox News, again, I recommend The Loudest Voice. It’s the truth as it happened, all those years ago.
