Roger Ailes wrote a memo in 1970 about creating Republican psychological operations.
Posted by The MeidasTouch Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 3 contradict2 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 55%
The MeidasTouch PodcastOct 27, 2026
The 1970 memo, 'A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News,' is well documented, and Ailes annotated it and reportedly endorsed it, but sources do not establish that he wrote it: they say the authors are anonymous or attribute it to someone else, so 'wrote' is contested.
What was said
… Is a psyop. It truly is. And what we document in WTF America is the rise of the psyop. I mean, it existed throughout humankind, but the modern manifestation of the psyop was that Roger Ailes 1970 memo about creating Republican psyops like, that was what they wanted to do, and then they created talk radio in the eighties, Fox in the nineties, and then they joined with more oligarchs to perfect this propaganda ecosystem. Like, I remember my birthday and Cheesecake. That's so snobby. …
The MeidasTouch Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. NationalMemo reports the memo lacks any author names and that context points to a Republican Party official writing it, and Vice says the authors were anonymous, with Ailes only apparently endorsing it. Both undercut the claim that Ailes wrote it.[2][3]
Contradicts. The Intercept, citing historian Rick Perlstein, says the memo was believed to be written by Chuck Colson, a Nixon special counsel, rather than by Ailes.[1]
Supports. HuffPost and Poynter describe a 1970 memo titled 'A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News' that Ailes worked on as a Nixon campaign consultant, and HuffPost says the 15-page memo was annotated by Ailes personally.[4][5]
Context. Some sources, such as Reuters-derived coverage, describe Ailes as having 'prepared' a memo as a Nixon aide, and a few secondary accounts assert Ailes authored it, but these rely on the same memo without independent authorship evidence.[6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 2 tier 2, 5 not rated
- 1Fox News Has Done More to Incite Domestic Political Violence Than Donald Trumptheintercept.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts
- 2“With Television You Just Sit—Watch—Listen. The Thinking Is Done ...nationalmemo.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3Roger Ailes Will Live Forevervice.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 4Trump Is Benefiting From The Network Roger Ailes Couldn ...huffpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5Memo from 1970: 'A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News' - Poynterpoynter.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Former Fox News chief Roger Ailes dies at age 77turnto23.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 7Fox News Was Never “News.” Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch Designed It as a Political Weapon. Here's the History.reddit.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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