By:
December 4, 2020

During an interview on SiriusXM with Dan Abrams, former longtime Fox News on-air personality Megyn Kelly said it is “smart as a business decision” for Newsmax and OAN to cater their programming to Trump diehard supporters.

As far as Fox News, Kelly addressed how she thinks the late Roger Ailes, the one-time Fox News chairman and CEO, would have handled the 2020 election. She first said Fox News’ current coverage — with some on-air personalities vigorously clinging to baseless allegations that the election is not over and others reporting the fact that it is — has left viewers confused.

Kelly said, “If Roger were there, he’d be saying, ‘At least get one pundit on in all of these shows to at least make the president’s case.’ And I think they missed an opportunity by not doing that.”

Abrams asked Kelly that if Ailes were still at Fox News, would the network call Joe Biden the president-elect?

“I think they wouldn’t,” Kelly said, adding, “Roger was much more conspiratorial than people really knew. I mean, if you could have heard what he said behind closed doors about any given conspiracy of the day, like ‘Is Obama a Muslim?’ you would have been pretty surprised.”

Actually, I don’t know that anyone would have been that surprised, given what was on Fox News back in the day and what we now know about Ailes. And, honestly, Kelly’s comments reveal a troubling mindset that remains with some at Fox News.

This piece originally appeared in The Poynter Report, our daily newsletter for everyone who cares about the media. Subscribe to The Poynter Report here.

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Tom Jones is Poynter’s senior media writer for Poynter.org. He was previously part of the Tampa Bay Times family during three stints over some 30…
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