Ailes praises Fox Business for debate

Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, sent out the following message Wednesday to its staff:

First, my congratulations to the employees of the Fox Business Network.  The debate last night was excellent and showcased FBN as a world class financial network.  Every one of our team leaders accomplished our goal of presenting a serious, meaningful debate while holding the audience.  Our debate hosts/moderators all did a phenomenal job.

I’d also like to thank the employees of the Fox News Channel for providing fabulous support to the FBN folks and helping to pull off a night of great success.  We were widely praised, and correctly so, for the Fox News Channel debate in August, but people have come to expect excellence from Fox News.  It may have been a surprise to many what I’ve known all along–that FBN is no longer an upstart, but rather a full blown powerful competitor in the business news field.  I simply cannot mention by name everybody involved, but Bill Shine, Brian Jones, Jay Wallace, and John Moody met with me throughout the process and did one of the most professional jobs I’ve ever seen in a debate.  I’m proud of all of you.  Mr. Murdoch called me this morning and asked me to pass along his congratulations to everyone involved.  He thought the debate was professional and intelligent.  Thank you.

Fox Business Network recorded 13.5 million viewers during the debate Tuesday night, a record for the network.