Mr. Ailes played the part of M.C. and presented this year's awards two writers: Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and John Wilson, a recent graduate of Claremont McKenna College. Mr. Boot takes home a $20,000 prize, while Mr. Wilson—a young journalist—receives a $10,000 check and internship with the New York Post’s editorial page.
“We’ve become increasingly successful, and yet we’ve been increasingly criticized," he said to the crowd about his company. "Sometimes for being too pro-American. Sometimes we’re too pro-Israel. Sometimes too pro-democracy.
"I’ve been quoted as saying, ‘This is a great country.’ A lot of people are trying to get in, nobody’s trying to get out. The press is an essential pillar of that democracy. The press didn’t invent democracy. Democracy invented freedom of the press. So we will investigate anything and find the truth, and report it, but we do not get up every morning, assuming that our country is guilty. We just happen to like democracy."
And he had some choice words for Democratic candidates who have decided not to debate on Fox.
“The candidates that can’t face Fox, can’t face Al Qaeda,” said Mr. Ailes. “And that’s what’s coming.”
That was followed by applause from the crowd which featured several News Corp. executives and journalists from Murdoch-owned papers—Richard Johnson, the Post’s Page Six editor, for one.
http://www.observer.com/2007/murdoch-ailes-weymouth-pump-bloomberg-breindel-awards