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If Roger Ailes does it, it isn't a scandal

Imagine waking up to this breaking news alert: "In spring 2011, Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, advised Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to abandon her plans for life outside the public sector and run for president against Barack Obama in 2012."

The next breaking news alert you'd be likely to receive is this one: "Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, to step down."

That would likely be true if it were the president of CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The New York Times or any other news organization. But Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News, makes his own rules. Last night, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward reported that in spring 2011, Ailes tried to enlist then-Gen. David Petraeus to run for president. Yet since news broke, Ailes has received no substantial criticism and the reputation of Fox News remains intact.

"If the President of ABC News did this, it would be a scandal, not least for the journalists at ABC News. At Fox it's just part of the culture," Jay Rosen, a professor of journalsim at New York University, told POLITICO.

"It's hilarious to recall the handwringing over Keith Olbermann making some donations in light of Ailes' presidential king-making," John Cook, a reporter at Gawker and a constant thorn in the side of Fox News, said, referencing the old MSNBC host. "But part of it is that MSNBC was conceived of as a news organization. Fox News was always a political operation."

In the 18 hours since news broke, Ailes overture to Gen. Petraeus has been greeted as little more than a juicy bit of Washington intrigue.

"Bob had a great scoop, a buzzy media story that made it perfect for Style. It didn't have the broader import that would justify A1," Liz Spayd, the Post's managing editor, told POLITICO when asked why a piece by Woodward, an investigative reporter, had appeared in the paper's 'Style' section.

No one seemed to believe that Ailes had breached media ethics. Nor was anyone surprised that Ailes had asked Fox News analyst K.T. McFarland to ask Petraeus if there was "anything Fox is doing right or wrong that you want to tell us to do differently." Indeed, it is just what people have come to expect from the veteran Republican strategist who, in 2005, sent a note to then-Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice offering "help off the record" any time.

If there is a line of demarcation between the conservative Fox News and the liberal MSNBC, this is it: MSNBC may be hyper-partisan, but -- at least for now -- it is not a political operation.

"There are no ramifications because everyone, inside of Fox and outside, understands that the Fox News Channel is a political organization that does news and makes money," Rosen explained. "If you look at it that way, then the ho-hum does make sense."

Fox News spokespeople declined to comment for this piece.