Fox deal lifts Palin's presidential hopes

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, on Monday revved up what many see as her campaign to position herself as a 2012 presidential candidate by signing a "multi-year" deal with Fox News.

The former Alaska governor will appear as a regular contributor on the News Corp-owned channel and the Fox Business Network, giving her a powerful media platform with which to reach the conservative core of the Republican party. The one-time television sports presenter in Anchorage, who has often attacked the media and once told journalists to "quit makin' things up", said it was "wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news". Fox News, which declined to disclose financial details of the agreement, said she would also host episodes of a series exploring "real-life tales of overcoming adversity throughout the American landscape".

Palin, whose biography became one of last year's biggest sellers, has continued to command intense media attention long after the end of the 2008 presidential campaign. She will join a stable of commentators who have given the network a rabble-rousing reputation as a polarized country has been wracked by the healthcare debate, two wars and the emergence of a political movement from last year's "tea party" tax protests.

Palin's appointment came a day after Matthew Freud, son-in-law of News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, denounced Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of Fox News. "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to," Freud told The New York Times.