NY Mag: Roger Ailes Nearly Iced Sarah Palin Due To Presidential Announcement

According to the well-sourced Gabriel Sherman in New York magazine, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes nearly iced out Fox News contributor Sarah Palin because she decided to reveal her (non) Presidential plans on a conservative radio show, rather than the cable news channel that was paying her:

After the announcement, he called Fox’s executive vice-presidentBill Shine into a meeting. Shine is the network’s principal point of contact with Palin. Ailes told him she had made a big mistake. “I paid her for two years to make this announcement on my network,” Ailes pointedly told Shine. Sources described the episode on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the relationships.

Palin is said to have made her announcement on Levin’s show because she’s been upset that Fox News has given a platform to Karl Rove, one of her principal critics.

According to Sherman, Ailes threatened to keep her off the air through the remainder of her contract in 2013.

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