Roger Ailes, Former Fox News Chief, Dies at 77

Ailes left network last year amid sexual-harassment controversy

 Roger Ailes, who combined political savvy with television showmanship to build the Fox News Channel into a conservative media juggernaut, becoming one of American media’s most controversial figures along the way, died Thursday. He was 77 years old.The cause of death wasn’t immediately known. Mr. Ailes had been in failing health, and had recently been hospitalized after a fall.

.. Mr. Ailes pioneered a style of cable news with opinionated, right-leaning prime-time programming delivered by pugnacious hosts.

.. Through a career in politics dating back to the 1960s and his leadership of Fox News, Mr. Ailes helped shape the modern conservative movement.

.. Known for his bluntness and disdain for the so-called liberal media elites

.. Rupert Murdoch: ..  “He will be remembered by the many people on both sides of the camera that he discovered, nurtured and promoted.”

.. Mr. Ailes also demanded loyalty, and he usually got it. When Mr. Ailes was building Fox News, almost 100 people from NBC went with him, causing executives there to complain that he was stealing staff. “You don’t know the difference between recruitment and a jailbreak,” he fired back.

.. In his letter of resignation, Mr. Ailes didn’t address the sexual-harassment claims but told Mr. Murdoch, “I am proud that we have built Fox News and Fox Business channels into powerful and lucrative news organizations that inform our audience and reward our shareholders.”

.. I met him once, and he was more than anything unashamed of his role in creating value by increasing an audience by the means he correctly saw as most potent — conflict. Whether you like the message or not, you cannot ignore screaming, and Ailes proved screaming pays very well regardless of whether there is anything remotely worth screaming about.

Border Adjustment: Explained

The House Republicans’ plan to upend how the U.S. collects corporate taxes

Republicans are proposing a tax concept common in other countries but novel in the U.S. The idea is “border adjustment.” Under the plan, companies wouldn’t be able to deduct the cost of imports from their revenue, a move that today enables them to lower their overall tax burden. At the same time, exports and other foreign sales would be made tax-free. The plan would operate like a tax on the trade deficit and raise about $1 trillion over a decade, according to independent estimates, which could help pay for lower tax rates and other provisions

Trump Intensifies His Attacks on Journalists and Condemns F.B.I. ‘Leakers’

President Trump turned the power of the White House against the news media on Friday, escalating his attacks on journalists as “the enemy of the people” and berating members of his own F.B.I. as “leakers” who he said were putting the nation at risk.

.. And in a series of Twitter posts, he assailed the F.B.I. as a dangerously porous agency, condemning unauthorized revelations of classified information from within its ranks and calling for an immediate hunt for leakers.

Hours after the speech, as if to demonstrate Mr. Trump’s determination to punish reporters whose coverage he dislikes, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, barred journalists from The New York Times and several other news organizations from attending his daily briefing, a highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps.

.. Mr. Trump and members of his inner circle are eager to use the prerogatives of the presidency to undercut those who scrutinize him, dismissing negative stories as lies and confining press access at the White House to a few chosen news organizations considered friendly.

.. “The fake news doesn’t tell the truth,” Mr. Trump said to the delight of the conservatives packed into the main ballroom at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center just south of Washington. “It doesn’t represent the people, it doesn’t and never will represent the people, and we’re going to do something about it.”

.. Breitbart News, the One America News Network and The Washington Times, all with conservative leanings. Journalists from ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Fox News also attended.

.. Mr. Trump, in his attack on the news media at the conservative gathering, complained at length about the use of anonymous sources in news stories, charging that some reporters were fabricating unnamed sources to level unfair charges against him.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name,” Mr. Trump said. “Let their name be put out there.”

.. Those comments came shortly after his own aides had held a briefing for the White House press pool on the condition of anonymity to deny CNN’s story suggesting there had been improper contact between the White House and the F.B.I. regarding the Times article on Russian contacts.