A national news channel will become a bit more local next month when Roger Ailes, CEO of FOX News, visits Ohio University.
Ailes, a 1962 OU alumnus, will speak May 21 as part of the George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics & Institutions.
After graduating from OU, Ailes worked in broadcast media, advised Ronald Reagan’s and George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaigns and served as president of CNBC. He began work at FOX News in 1996, according to the George Washington Forum’s website.
“Ailes is excited about the opportunity … he’s looking forward to coming back and talking,” said Robert Ingram, an associate professor of history and director of the forum.
Some of the details, such as the starting time of Ailes’ lecture, are yet to be determined, Ingram said.
Though some might view Ailes as representative of a conservative point of view, the goal of the lecture is to approach modern American politics, history and media from a practical perspective, Ingram said.
“In all the events, I’ve tried to find ways to connect theory and practice,” he said. “Most of the time, I’ve had people working on the theory side who sort of stumbled on to the practical side.”
Considering his success, it is surprising that this is the first time Ailes has been invited back to campus to speak, said Richard Vedder, distinguished professor emeritus of economics.
“He knows a lot about the journalism world; he knows about hiring practices ... he could do a lot of good for the university,” Vedder said.
Ailes has revolutionized the cable news and cable commentary business, he said.
“I’m genuinely thrilled that he’s coming,” he said.
The George Washington Forum has hosted a variety of conferences and speakers during the 2011–12 school year, including Amity Shlaes, from the Council on Foreign Relations and Hadley Arkes, the Ney Professor of American Institutions at Amherst College.
“While we have a lot of people and diverse viewpoints on this campus, I’ve noticed students on this campus, in the past few years, have been remarkably tolerant of different points of view,” Vedder said.
Though many members of OU’s College Republicans chapter will likely attend the event, Allison Arnold, the group’s communication chair, said she did not think members would attend the event for political reasons. Arnold is a junior studying public relations and is also a student trustee on the OU Board of Trustees.
“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of members interested in attending, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the political content of his visit,” Arnold said. “I think that just has to do with him being a successful alumnus.”
Paul Leduc, a junior studying civil engineering and the communications director of OU College Democrats, said the group is interested in Ailes’ visit.
“It’s great that we have an influential figure such as himself coming to the university, but we might not exactly agree on all of the issues,” Leduc said.
During Fall Quarter 2007, Ailes made a “generous contribution to the Scripps College of Communication to provide significant support for a new, technologically advanced newsroom,” OU President Roderick McDavis said in his 2008 “State of the University” address.
The newsroom was renamed in April 2008 to the “Roger E. Ailes Newsroom,” according to a news release from FOX News.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
