The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Wearing Murdoch’s Leash’

Posted on | March 18, 2015 | 75 Comments

Thus does Vox Day headline this troubling media news: Blogger Mickey Kaus has resigned as a blogger at The Daily Caller “after the conservative site’s editor-in-chief, Tucker Carlson, pulled a critical column about Fox News from the site”:

“It’s pretty simple,” Kaus said in an interview, “I wrote a piece attacking Fox for not being the opposition on immigration and amnesty — for filling up the airwaves with reports on ISIS and terrorism, and not fulfilling their responsibility of being the opposition on amnesty and immigration. … I posted it at 6:30 in the morning. When I got up, Tucker had taken it down. He said, ‘We can’t trash Fox on the site. I work there.'”
Carlson, who co-founded The Daily Caller in 2010, is a conservative contributor to Fox News and the host of its weekend edition of “Fox & Friends.”
Kaus says when he told Carlson he needed to be able to write about Fox, Carlson told him it was a hard-and-fast rule, and non-negotiable.
“He said it was a rule, and he wouldn’t be able to change that rule. So I told him I quit,” Kaus explained.

(Via Memeorandum.) On the one hand, I understand Tucker’s position: “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”

On the other hand, there has been a perceptible drift in Fox’s coverage over the past few years — not just on immigration  — that does deserve scrutiny. For example, during the campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination, it seemed obvious to me and others that the network was playing favorites among the candidates. If you were not a Mitt Romney supporter, you had to grit your teeth during Fox’s coverage of the GOP primary campaign, especially when Karl Rove was on. So the indication that Fox is now indirectly influencing coverage in other conservative media . . . Well, it’s troubling.

 

Category: Fox News, Immigration

Comments

75 Responses to “‘Wearing Murdoch’s Leash’”

  1. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    March 18th, 2015 @ 2:41 pm

    wooley legs can be felt as well as seen!

  2. Art Deco
    March 18th, 2015 @ 3:31 pm

    Lowryed if he posted that same piece on another site like Derbyshire did.

    Derbyshire in 2006 posted in the New English Review a lunatic attack on the writings of one of the staff editors at National Review. He could have and should have been cut from the masthead for cause at that time. He was a liability and Lowry had been indulgent with him.

    Lowry’s real problem is not in setting boundary conditions, but in an inability to recruit anyone worth reading and a history of hiring the pathetic (Messrs. Steorts, ver Bruggen, and Foster to name three).

  3. richard mcenroe
    March 18th, 2015 @ 3:38 pm

    Well, I just find it difficult to believe that Tucker Carlson, the man who aired the ESPN/Mike Tyson “I want to rape Sarah Palin” video, could possibly make a mistake in judgment. Surely he was right to defend Fox News.

  4. Hanzo
    March 18th, 2015 @ 3:51 pm

    I’m still not watching CNN, 😉

  5. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    March 18th, 2015 @ 4:18 pm

    Dana, just remember that I am a giver: http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2015/03/what-is-fox-news-good-for-ainsley.html

  6. Adobe_Walls
    March 18th, 2015 @ 4:32 pm

    Then Lowry should’ve waited for him to commit another actual sin as opposed to writing a Politically Incorrect, but perfectly reasonable piece at Taki. Whatever effect this had on Derbyshire’s career it hurt Lowry more at least at the time.

  7. Michael Alford
    March 18th, 2015 @ 5:12 pm

    Its funny that you would cite the 2012 election. As a Ron Paul supporter I watched them ignore him just as deftly as the ‘liberal’ media. And Karl Rove? The man has no soul!

  8. Adobe_Walls
    March 18th, 2015 @ 5:53 pm

    She’s got a great smile too.
    Tried to post that at your site but it told me the password was incorrect. Since I don’t recall ever trying to comment there I don’t think I have a password registered there.

  9. Adobe_Walls
    March 18th, 2015 @ 6:07 pm

    I think it’s still his technically.

  10. Hanzo
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:36 pm

    You’re killin’ me.
    Where’s the trash can? I need to gak.

  11. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:49 pm

    Sexist swine! But…..since I agree with you 100% I’ll take this opportunity to perform the rare double denunciation- one for thee and one for me.

  12. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:52 pm

    And after scrolling down thread…..
    One for EBL as well.
    (The even rarer triple denunciation!)

  13. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:54 pm

    Yep, I knew I was going to regret clicking on that one.

  14. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:55 pm

    You could just call it “watching Christi Paul”.

  15. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 7:57 pm

    General Moto…….never mind.

  16. Quartermaster
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:20 pm

    On paper, perhaps. But I’m sure Satan has a lien and will be collecting soon.

  17. Quartermaster
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:24 pm

    You’re thinking of the late, great Chrysler, now owned by the guy whose other product’s name stands for “Fix It Again Tony.”

  18. Quartermaster
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:25 pm

    No! Just No!

  19. Quartermaster
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:26 pm

    Fox is an MSM news outlet.

  20. Quartermaster
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:28 pm

    I don’t think NR ha recovered from the hit on its credibility. And Rich Lowry is a still a craven coward.

  21. theoldsargesays
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:28 pm

    Actually I was thinking of General Motors being owned ,in part, by Obama as representative of the people of this country, then I remembered the the book a have been cleared on that one.

  22. Hanzo
    March 18th, 2015 @ 8:37 pm

    True, true, but then my conscience would torment me for the rest of my days.lol

  23. Finrod Felagund
    March 18th, 2015 @ 11:54 pm

    Daily Caller also does the least work removing the leftist trolls from the comment section, which makes large numbers of articles there nothing but wretched messes of overflowing sewers. They’re definitely the worst in that department that I’ve seen.

  24. Slam1263
    March 19th, 2015 @ 12:07 am

    I cut the cord on cable 5 years ago, and digital doesn’t bleed into the valley like analog did.
    Netflix for movies, and the InterWebs for annoyance.

  25. jakee308
    March 19th, 2015 @ 12:32 am

    It’s not like he’s some conservative icon is what was meant. He’s no stalwart conservative fighting the good fight day in and day out.

    He’s a Democrat that likes to stir sh!t up.