SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - We all have touchstones in our lives by which we measure our progress and navigate our direction, don’t we? October 10, 1998 was the day I realized why I do what I do for a living.
There I was, uncomfortably perched on a chair in the fifth floor corner office of a Manhattan high-rise, the headquarters of a television network executive named Roger Ailes. Those of you who live and work outside the TV industry may not have heard of him. We who orbit inside the universe of television news are well familiar with the name and the man. That is, if we know what’s good for us.
Roger Ailes is one of the broadcasting industry’s major power brokers. As legend and network executives tell it, the creator and founder of the Fox News Channel-- a career political consultant and republican strategist and speech writer -- was handpicked by the billionaire international media mogul Rupert Murdock to construct a television network that would counterbalance what Murdock perceived to be a liberal bias in the mainstream media.
Ailes has made and destroyed careers in the process of carrying out his mandate. And in a span of roughly five years his upstart cable network did the seemingly impossible by overtaking, at least temporarily, the mighty CNN and making Murdock’s multi-million dollar gamble pay off, proving there were enough disaffected and underserved right-wing, conservative republican viewers to support a cable television network.
Had I ever heard of Roger Ailes at that point in my career or seen the Fox News Channel, I suppose I would have been nervous to meet him. As it was, I saw an elderly and apparently unhealthy gentleman who appeared to be struggling with his weight and who was perspiring and uncomfortable in his very expensive suit, one size too small. Studying the strained buttons on his vest, I was distracted just enough not to be aware that I probably should have been nervous in the presence of a man considered by many to be a legend in our industry. The presence of his second in command, a stately and wonderfully welcoming gentleman named Chet Collier, Fox News Channel’s Senior Vice President at the time, had a reassuring and almost comforting effect on me.
Dispensing with all small talk, Mr. Ailes immediately took control of the meeting, as I would have expected a man who controls millions of dollars and thousands of people to do. He had little time to spend with someone as inconsequential as I.
“Tell me about the one story you’ve done in your career that ranks as your favorite,” he said as he leaned back in his leather chair, the wry smile on his face revealing he knew he’d put me on the spot. I supposed he was testing my ability to speak extemporaneously under pressure, the fundamental skill required for a TV news correspondent. He was also, whether he knew it or not, teaching me a lesson I would never forget.
My mind immediately flashed back through thirteen years and thousands of stories, directly to a mobile home park in Tooele, Utah where a divorced mother lived with her small children.
I couldn’t then nor can I now remember the woman’s name but I’ve always remembered her plight. I recited for Mr. Ailes and Mr. Collier my recollection of the day I answered the woman’s plea for help. I didn’t tell them it was an accident of timing that I took the call, simply because I was sitting in the ABC 4 newsroom with nothing to do.
In a quivering voice the woman simply said, “I need help.”
Before I knew it and without consulting my editors or supervisors, I heard myself telling the woman, “I can help.”
Maybe it was the training I got from my father who was a criminal trial lawyer and civil rights litigator that prompted my response. He had made me and my brothers promise we would not follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer. The stress of the job, particularly the specialty he chose, drove him to drinking and ruined his health. I tried to take a safer route and chose a career path that might still give me a chance to advocate for people without going to court.
The woman had recently been divorced but she was not free of her ex husband. He’d already come to her home twice, drunk, threatening to kill her if she didn’t let him in or give him the children. She hid behind furniture and kept her babies quiet as he banged on the tin siding and shouted threats and profanities. The flimsy door was no defense against his rage. He broke in and beat her, pulled her hair and threatened to come back with an ax to finish the job.
For the third time, the woman called the Tooele County Sheriffs office and begged for help. She’d already sworn out a complaint and gotten a restraining order against her ex husband. Convincing sheriff’s deputies to enforce the order was another thing. Twice the man had been allowed to break into her home and beat her and threaten her and the children. Twice she had called for help. Twice no one came until it was too late.
“No one would listen to me,” she said.
A neighbor listened. He offered to loan her his handgun. She accepted it.
As promised, the ex husband showed up on her property the very next night. As promised, he had an ax.
Several times, he banged on the door and screamed. Several times, she told him to go away. Finally, as he was hitting the door knob with the ax, she opened the door and confronted him. He lunged. She squeezed the trigger. The slug hit at center mass. The man went down. He was dead.
The woman’s nightmare was not over. Shockingly, the county attorney filed criminal homicide charges against the woman.
That’s where I picked up the story. On the eve of the preliminary hearing I interviewed the woman. Then, I interviewed the county attorney.
Had he considered the woman’s repeated pleas for help? Had he considered the ex-husband’s pattern of violence? Had he considered the restraining order? The beatings? What about the fact the man was on her property? What about the witnesses in the mobile home park who’d heard the screaming and the threats?
The prosecutor was indignant. How dare I question his office’s decision to prosecute this or any criminal case? Clearly, I didn’t understand the process and should keep my nose out of it.
The next day, we who sat in the courtroom and witnessed the hearing would find out that, clearly, the Tooele County Attorney didn’t understand the process. The presiding judge made that clear when he abruptly threw the case and prosecutor out of court without even hearing defense council’s opening argument.
A free woman walked out of the courthouse. I followed, along with my photographer, documenting the ending of a story I would never forget.
“What is it about that story that makes it your favorite,” Mr. Ailes gently pressed, apparently prodding me for words he wanted to hear but hadn’t.
“My report gave voice to someone who wouldn’t have had one,” I responded without hesitation, almost as if someone had handed me a cue card.
Mr. Ailes and Mr. Collier smiled. They approved. Evidently, that was all he needed to hear. He asked me when I could start and whether I’d prefer to work in New York or Los Angeles.
I’ve never spoken to nor heard from the woman since she walked out of the court house. I've never expected her thanks. To the contrary, I’ve always wanted to thank her for having the courage to share her story with me and others.
We journalists cringe at the thought that other’s misfortunes sometimes result in our career advancement. The news mercenaries among us don't cringe. Often, we bemoan how seldom we get the chance to do stories that matter to people who wouldn’t otherwise have a voice.
Indeed, it seems to be a rare occurrence these days. But we keep looking and listening.
