Media Watch

Roger Ailes battles an upstart online-only newspaper

The web may be saving America for democracy and free speech
Creator of Fox News buys local weekly, loses staff to online newssite

By Walter Brooks

The Roger Ailes weekly the Putnam County News & Recorder, which for over a century had focused exclusively on local events with nary an Editorial, is now an ultra conservative newspaper behind a paywall, much like his boss Rupert Murdoch imposes on our local daily newspaper.

The town's new upstart newssite, Philipstown.info, is completely free like the newssite you are reading now.

North Africa and the Middle East is being saved by the internet, and the web may yet do the same for America.

The  current New Yorker has an arresting feature entitled "Fox among the chickens" about an independently owned weekly newspaper which for over a century had focused exclusively on local events with nary an Editorial, the Putnam County News & Recorder, being bought by Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, who put his wife Elizabeth in as the publisher. She shares her husband's political views, and, like him, she wanted the paper to have a role in local events and community decisions, especially about taxes, schools and patriotism.

Shortly after assuming ownership in 2009, the Ailes began to radically change the coverage and focus of the PCN&R as the weekly was known locally.

While some readers had observed a new religiosity in the paper,  others became offended by what they saw as a turn to hyper-patriotism.

The beginning was the weekly's first-ever editorial quoting Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" thesis as the pattern Washington should follow.

This was quickly followed to a front page series ad nauseam reprinting the Federalist Papers in total, all 85 of them.

Mr. Ailes and his wife so infuriated local subscribers with the right-wing agenda they imposed on the 145-year old weekly, that the staff the quit en mass and joined an upstart virtual newspaper, or newssite, named Philipstown.info which opened directly across Main Street from the printed weekly which has since moved up the street.

Vote in our poll about newspaper paywalls here.

No web traffic tracking and no advertising

Philipstown.info Editor Michael Mell tells us that they have yet to track their web traffic. It is undoubtedly zooming after all the publicity the newssite has received, especially since the PNC&R wensite is locked down behind a typical Murdoch paywall. Rupert and Roger don't want you free-loaders reading their slanted news for free.

An escalating web traffic would encourage any fledgling staff.

The newssite does not accept advertising either and its Facebook page calls it a non-profit. I'm sure these hard-working idealists think that a plus, but it flies in the face of a century of newspaper research indicating that advertising is a major reason many people read their newspaper, online of otherwise.

Having local advertising is the best possible way for any media to show local support and following.

As an example, the Business Directory on this newssite bring us more new readers than any other element, and we've been doing this for 15 years now.

Part of the newssite's mission statement reads;

One thing we will not impose are political views. No editorials. The only opinion pieces in Philipstown Dot Info will be yours. As to our news policy, we believe it has never been stated better than this: “without fear or favor”.

The battle goes on, and this New Yorker story is a must-read for anyone wishing to continue working and prospering in media today.