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Roger Ailes, who became one of the most powerful US politics and media figures as the founder of Fox News before being brought down by sexual harassment charges, has died at the age of 77.
Key points:
- Roger Ailes led Fox News for 20 years
- His reign came to an abrupt end after sexual harassment allegations
- The 77-year-old was seen as influential to Donald Trump's successful White House run
Mr Ailes resigned from Fox News last July following allegations of sexual harassment, marking an abrupt end to his 20-year reign over America's most lucrative and powerful cable news channel for conservatives.
Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox.
"Everybody at Fox News is shocked and grieved by the death of Roger Ailes," Mr Murdoch said in a statement.
"A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America's media over the last 30 years.
"He will be remembered by the many people on both sides of the camera that he discovered, nurtured and promoted.
"Roger and I shared a big idea which he executed in a way no-one else could have.
"At 21st Century Fox we will always be enormously grateful for the great business he built."
From the start, Mr Ailes had a clear conservative vision of what he wanted Fox to be as he took the network to the top of the cable news ratings and made it a major profit centre for Mr Murdoch's media empire.
But accusations of Mr Ailes' treatment of women would be his downfall.
In July 2016, Gretchen Carlson — a former Miss America who appeared on the popular Fox and Friends morning program before being given her own show — sued him.
She said he had made sexual advances toward her and then hurt her career in retaliation after she rejected him.
Two weeks later, Mr Ailes was ousted from the network with a $US40 million ($54 million) severance package.
His departure came during the Republican National Convention and at a time when the network was scoring record ratings.
Shortly afterward, he began advising US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for the White House.
Patriotic warrior or right-wing propagandist?
As founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox News, Mr Ailes became one of the most influential figures in the Republican Party.
Mr Ailes had run Fox News under the slogan "fair and balanced" and conservatives found it a welcome antidote to the perceived liberal slant of traditional media.
Critics denounced Fox News as a cynical and polarising right-wing propaganda machine.
"He helped market a brand of pseudo-journalism that revolves basically around hate, rhetoric, divisiveness, pitting people against each other," media analyst Eric Boehlert said.
"That seeps into the culture and into politics."
The story of Fox News was very much the story of Mr Ailes.
His conservative red-white-and-blue beliefs set the narrative for the network's stories, and critics said it was difficult to determine where Mr Ailes' agenda ended and Republican Party talking points began.
"Today America lost one of its great patriotic warriors," Fox News host Sean Hannity said on the channel.
"For decades, RA [Roger Ailes] has impacted American politics and media.
"He has dramatically and forever changed the political and the media landscape single-handedly for the better."
Brian Kilmeade, another Fox News host, said on the channel that Ailes "helped build Fox News Channel into the powerhouse it is today".
Mr Ailes' widow, Elizabeth Ailes, confirmed his death in a statement on the Fox News website.
"I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning," she wrote.
Reuters/AP
Topics: death, television, information-and-communication, media, united-states
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