If Roger Ailes does it, it isn't a scandal

Imagine waking up to this breaking news alert: "In spring 2011, Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, advised Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to abandon her plans for life outside the public sector and run for president against Barack Obama in 2012." The next breaking news alert you'd be likely to receive is this one: "Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, to step down." That would likely be true if it were the president of CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The New York Times or any other news organization. But Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News, makes his own rules.

Last night, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward reported that in spring 2011, Ailes tried to enlist then-Gen. David Petraeus to run for president. Yet since news broke, Ailes has received no substantial criticism and the reputation of Fox News remains intact. "If the President of ABC News did this, it would be a scandal, not least for the journalists at ABC News. At Fox it's just part of the culture," Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University, told POLITICO. "It's hilarious to recall the handwringing over Keith Olbermann making some donations in light of Ailes' presidential king-making," John Cook, a reporter at Gawker and a constant thorn in the side of Fox News, said, referencing the old MSNBC host. "But part of it is that MSNBC was conceived of as a news organization. Fox News was always a political operation." In the 18 hours since news broke, Ailes overture to Gen. Petraeus has been greeted as little more than a juicy bit of Washington intrigue.