Roger Ailes Pens Memoir; Leaving Fox?

Fox News chief Roger Ailes is reportedly writing an autobiography, which may mean he's planning to abandon the conservative media colossus he launched in 1996. After all, he could hardly publish an unvarnished tell-all while managing Fox News, writes Gabriel Sherman in New York. People like Ailes' Fox colleagues and Rupert Murdoch will be a little miffed if the mucky muck reveals what he really thinks of them.

Ailes is reportedly cutting a $3 million to $4 million book deal with Murdoch-owned Harper Collins. Fox News personality Jim Pinkerton—ghost writer of Michele Bachmann's book, Core of Conviction—is said to be co-writing. Ailes' Fox contract expires in 2013, and he hasn't groomed an heir—so executives will likely battle for control if he jumps ship. But this new chapter in his life would suit Ailes perfectly, Sherman writes: After all, "Ailes has made a career as a master shaper of narratives. Now, the biggest story he wants to control is his own." (More Roger Ailes stories.)