By DAVID CARR and TIM ARANGO
c.2010 New York Times News Service
NEW YORK – In fall 2008, Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, went to his boss, Rupert Murdoch, with two complaints: He had heard that Murdoch was considering endorsing Barack Obama for president in The New York Post, and he had read a book excerpt in Vanity Fair suggesting that Murdoch was sometimes embarrassed by the right-leaning Fox News.
Ailes threatened to quit, a person familiar with the conversation said. Instead, Murdoch soon rewarded him with a new, more lucrative contract – he made $23 million last year in salary, bonuses and other compensation, more than Murdoch – and The New York Post endorsed John McCain.
In an interview in late December in his office at News Corp. headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, Ailes conceded that he had opposed the Obama endorsement. (“I didn’t think he had the experience,” he said, adding, “I don’t tell Rupert Murdoch who to endorse.”) He was outraged by the Vanity Fair article but said he “demanded nothing” and did not threaten to quit. He said he did not have to.