Sarah Palin reportedly "infuriated" Fox News chief

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves during a Tea Party Express rally Sept. 5, 2011, in Manchester, N.H.(Credit: Getty Images)

Sarah Palin's decision to announce that she would not seek the presidency on a talk radio program - as opposed to Fox News - "infuriated" Fox chief Roger Ailes and prompted Ailes to consider pulling Palin from the network, according to New York Magazine.

After flirting with a run for much of 2011, Palin went on conservative radio host Mark Levin's show in October to say she would not seek the Republican presidential nomination.

The former Alaska governor's choice of venue was striking in light of the fact that Palin earns $1 million per year as a contributor to Fox News.

A Palin adviser told New York that Palin decided to make the announcement on Levin's show because she was upset Fox News was regularly showcasing former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove. In October 2010, Rove questioned whether Palin has the "gravitas" to be president, and the two have long had a rocky relationship, with Palin dismissing Rove as a "professional pundit" seeking to "mislead the American public" in August.

Ailes was reportedly livid at Palin's decision to take the announcement to Levin, a Palin booster, complaining to a Fox executive that he had "paid her for two years to make this announcement on my network." He was angry enough that he even considered pulling her off the air, according to New York, despite the fact that Palin's contract runs through 2013 and Fox Ne! ws would still have to pay her. Palin reportedly apologized after her agent made Ailes' displeasure known to her.

A spokesperson for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment on the anonymously-sourced report.



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