Gabriel Sherman's "dogged pursuit" of former Fox News chief executive and chairman Roger Ailes has led to a bump up in the reporter's career, a New York Times Bestseller, a new side gig as a contributor on MSNBC and NBC News, and now a spread in The New York Times.
Sherman, the New York magazine national affairs editor who penned a biography on Ailes called "The Loudest Voice in the Room" in 2014, was also the first to report on the Fox News chief resigning from the network earlier this year amid allegations of sexual harassment, The Hill reported.
Sherman's Ailes chronicles, which include extensive media coverage before and after the biography, have won him attention from the mainstream media, which is now covering him as he covers Fox News.
Sherman opened up about all the attention to The New York Times, including the story that he, at one time, enlisted protection after his coverage reportedly angered Ailes.
"It was surreal," the journalist said of having a bodyguard. "He'd had a cameo in 'White Men Can't Jump,' so I got to ask him about Wesley Snipes. Nothing happened, but he was there."
There was also buzz that Ailes once launched a campaign to discredit Sherman and silence his sources, The Times pointed out.
Ailes' lawyer vehemently denied that in a written statement to the newspaper.
“Roger Ailes builds media companies and helps elect presidents. He couldn’t give a hoot about Gabe Sherman. It’s Sherman who appears to be obsessively stalking Roger and his family, and it’s Sherman who seems willing to go to any length to keep his own name in the news. Roger is on to new challenges.”
But from his perspective, Sherman is just working his beat.
“Part of me was maybe a little naïve when I took on the book,” he told The Times. “I just thought it was the biggest story on my beat. It really hadn’t been done. It wasn’t like I was being masochistic.”
His book, which spent two weeks on the NYT Bestseller's list, didn't quite pack the punch Sherman was likely hoping for (according to Nielsen BookScan, 11,000 copies have been sold to date). It also did not contain comment from the man in question.
"I was always wondering, ‘Why is he so paranoid about me writing this book?’” Sherman told The Times. “My pitch to him was ‘I want to try to understand how you changed America, and how television reshaped American politics.’ But he couldn’t do what Steve Jobs did with Walter Isaacson . . . and say, ‘Cover my life, warts and all.’ Now we know why.”
Regardless, Sherman has become the authority on all things Fox News thanks, in part, to his relentless effort.
“It was remarkable because I think if someone hung up on me, I’d be traumatized,” Sheelah Kolhatkar, a New Yorker staffer who used to sit next to Sherman when they both worked at The New York Observer, told The Times. “But it seems like over time, everyone ends up talking to him.”