A new book reveals that Fox News president Roger Ailes was paralyzed by a book coauthored by Media Matters founder David Brock that documented Fox News' role as a Republican propaganda outlet. Fox reportedly retaliated against the book by airing segments “claiming Brock was mentally unstable.”

The Loudest Voice in the Room, New York magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman's upcoming biography of Ailes, describes how the Fox chief and his network ruthlessly targets critics. Media Matters obtained the book in advance of its January 14 publication date.

Sherman explains what happened when Media Matters became Ailes' top critic. In February 2012, Media Matters released The Fox Effect: How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine. Sherman reports that Ailes was “obsessed” with the book, lamenting that he couldn't “do anything” until it was published. As retaliation, Fox subsequently “aired segments claiming Brock was mentally unstable”:

Later that month, Ailes's old nemesis David Brock coauthored a new book, The Fox Effect: How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine, which synthesized the most damaging research that Media Matters had published over the past decade on its website. “He was obsessed with Brock's book,” one Fox contributor recalled. In one meeting, Ailes said he couldn't “do anything” until it was published. Highlighting leaked emails from Fox executives, which expressed overt right-ring bias, and detailing wild on-air claims about Obama's religion, background, and policies, the text provided Fox's detractors with rounds of ammunition to deploy in their battle to define Ailes as a master propagandist. In retaliation, Fox aired segments claiming Brock was mentally unstable. [The Loudest Voice in the Room, pg 380]

In one such segment, Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow, who often appears on Fox's airwaves to offer anti-LGBT pop psychology, suggested that Brock is “a dangerous man” in part because he was adopted.

Sherman also reports that Ailes “set up an anonymous blog called The Cable Game that took shots at his rivals”and “assigned Fox News contributor Jim Pinkerton to write the entries.” Sherman writes of one such post targeting Brock:

“Is CNN on the Side of the Killers and Terrorists in Iraq?” one headline read. “David Brock Gets Caught! (Although Secretly, He Probably Loves Being Naughty and Nasty),” blared another. The item's text was accompanied by a photo of Brock posing in a skin-tight tank top with Congressman Barney Frank. “Media Matters, of course, is the notoriously left-wing hit group, founded by that flamboyantly self-hating conservative apostate, David Brock,” it said. “Brock has that rare distinction of being accused of being dishonest by both liberals and conservatives alike. But don't take my word for it: Here's what you get if you type 'David Brock liar' on Google: 168,000 hits.” [The Loudest Voice in the Room, pg 339]

In an effort to pre-empt Sherman's biography following its 2011 announcement, Ailes selected Pinkerton to coauthor his autobiography. Pinkerton previously served in the Reagan and Bush White Houses and worked with the Fox chief on President George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign before joining the network in 2006. Ailes eventually decided to shelve his own book and instead cooperate with conservative journalist Zev Chafets' 2013 biography, which was widely derided as overly sympathetic.