The Loudest Voice (TV Mini Series)

1995 (2019)

Simon McBurney: Rupert Murdoch

Quotes 

• Australian Executive : We ran focus groups in all the major markets: Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago. CNN represent old. They're stuck in the 1980s. MSNBC, lost in a synergistic dreamland.

  Roger Ailes : That's one way of putting it.

  [laughter] 

  Australian Executive : Fox News will be programmed for the '90s. Fast, loud, edgy. Tabloid TV.

  Ian Rae : It's based on a very similar concept to "A Current Affair", Rupert. And it draws on the strengths of the Post and the Sun.

  Rupert Murdoch : Sounds good to me, gents. Roger?

  Roger Ailes : Hmm. One question. Who is your audience?

  Australian Executive : Everyone. We want to reach the widest audience possible.

  Roger Ailes : Well, I think that's wrong.

  Australian Executive : Excuse me?

  Roger Ailes : We don't need everyone. Your problem is that you're talking broadcast. Cable is different. Cable is about one thing: niche. The loyalty of a passionate few. We need to program directly to the viewer who is predisposed to buying what we're trying to sell. In politics, it's called turning out the base. If we can do that, then they will never change the channel.

  Australian Executive : And what is that niche?

  Roger Ailes : Well, I think it is conservatives. It's roughly half the damn country. Every other news service... you think about it, broadcast, cable, doesn't matter who it is... they have a left-wing bent. Ultimately, they are playing to a liberal elite, and that's fine, fine. We will let them all battle out for that half, and we're just gonna own the other half. Right now in America, 60% of people think that the media is negative, that it's full of lies, full of bias, full of crap. We're just gonna give the people what they want, a positive message, an American message, wrapped up in a conservative viewpoint. That's hearts and minds right there.

• Rupert Murdoch : Roger, this is in tomorrow's Wall Street Journal: "Disney to Launch ABC News Cable Network, A Fourth Competitor Enters Crowded Market."

  Ian Rae : They launch in December.

  Rupert Murdoch : Yeah, that's eight months from now. We launch in a year, we're dead in the water. You know, there's barely enough room in the market for two news networks, let alone four.

  Roger Ailes : So let's launch in six.

  Ian Rae : [laughing]  What, you want to launch an entire network in six months?

  Roger Ailes : I don't think we have a choice.

  Ian Rae : Launching in a year is... is a heavy lift. Six months is impossible.

  Roger Ailes : No, it's not impossible.

  Ian Rae : Uh, well, would you, uh, care to elaborate?

  Roger Ailes : Well, if we wait an entire year, then we're gonna lose something quite important that Mr. Murdoch is paying me for, and that's influence, so let's not pause to create a business model equivalent to the competition. Let's undercut them. Just get the eyeballs. Now, I don't know what it's like in England or Australia. Newspapers might be enough. Here in America, television news is king. I know television, I know how to produce television. All you gotta do is get me on the air. We can be ready in six months.

  Rupert Murdoch : And, uh, if we're not?

  Roger Ailes : Fire me. No, you know what? Fuck it. I'll quit, and you can donate my salary to the ACLU.

• Rupert Murdoch : Ah, Rog, we're gonna delay the launch. Disney's pulled out, pressure's off. We're gonna put our foot on the brake, do it right.

  Roger Ailes : No, no, no. You're making a mistake. We have momentum.

  Rupert Murdoch : Don't bullshit me, Roger. It's a bloody fucking mess down there.

  Roger Ailes : We have had a couple of bad rehearsals, Rupert. That's all.

  Rupert Murdoch : I am not gonna be made a laughingstock.

  Roger Ailes : If you delay this launch, I guarantee you will be.

  Rupert Murdoch : I'll take my chances.

  Ian Rae : It's for the best, Rog. It's all happening, uh, too fast.

  Roger Ailes : Okay. Look, obviously, I'm not doing something right here. So I'm gonna step aside, I'm gonna let you two reassess.

  Rupert Murdoch : Well, you can't just walk away. You got a job to do.

  Roger Ailes : Then let me do it. Stop calling me up here for every bump in the fucking road that won't count for shit when all is said and done! We're that close, Rupert. That close. We don't need to delay anything. And I know exactly what we need to do to be ready.

  Rupert Murdoch : And what is that?

  Roger Ailes : Get people in line.

• Rupert Murdoch : Stephanie Rains is our best reporter.

  Roger Ailes : She was way out of line.

  Rupert Murdoch : Getting her over from ABC was not easy or cheap.

  Roger Ailes : She was hysterical. She's questioning me in front of my people. I-I don't stand for that.

  Rupert Murdoch : Well, uh, that's not what I heard.

  Roger Ailes : What else did you hear?

  Rupert Murdoch : I heard she merely presented an alternative point of view and you acted extremely abusively toward her.

  Roger Ailes : That's what she told you? That's no surprise. 'Cause she's fucking nuts.

  Rupert Murdoch : Yeah, well, she's not the only one, Roger. Listen, uh, I'm not gonna tell you how to run your affairs, mate.

  Roger Ailes : Good. Stephanie Rains goes.

  Rupert Murdoch : She's already quit. If you create problems, they're my problems, and I don't have time to deal with problems, so either they stop... or I'll have to make a change. Do you understand me?