Ailes could come out on top at News Corp. as phone-hacking damage spreads

New York | Poynter.org
New York magazine has identified one of the few people at News Corp. who could gain from the phone-hacking scandal that has tainted other executives: Roger Ailes. “Whatever Jon Stewart and fellow liberals may think of Fox News, the network’s journalistic transgressions are entirely legal, which is something that no one can say about the News of the World,” writes Gabriel Sherman. He notes that Ailes has avoided any connection to the scandal, unlike heir apparent James Murdoch, who oversaw the part of the News Corp. that includes the British tabloids and approved settlement payments to hacking victims. On the other hand: Poynter’s Rick Edmonds says, “Fox News is a high-profile but small slice of the business. News Corp. COO Chase Carey would be in the line of succession before Ailes.” Succession is just one of the business problems facing News Corp., Edmonds details them all.