Joe Muto, the self-described “weasel,” “traitor” and “sell-out” who for a few days last week was the “Fox News Mole” for Gawker.com until FNC identified him, disclosed on CNN’s Reliable Sources that he tried to leave the network but was unable to get hired elsewhere because the rest of the cable news industry “blackballed” him since they presumed anyone who worked for Fox News is “a nut.” Not very tolerant.
Muto, an associate producer for The O’Reilly Factor until Wednesday, told Howard Kurtz “I sent out dozens and dozens of resumes. CNN must have gotten twenty resumes from me.”
But, “I was blackballed within the industry, that people, hiring managers, see Fox News on your resume, and they say ‘this guy’s a conservative, this guy’s a nut, we don’t want him in our organization.’ I was completely blackballed within the cable news industry after working at Fox News.”
Audio: MP3 clip
(From TV Newser: "Fox News Mole Reveals Himself as 8-Year Employee, Worked on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’”)
Kurtz noted Muto's revelations didn’t “seem to amount to all that much” and got him to confirm he was motivated by politics. Kurtz observed: “It sounds like you were just uncomfortable with what you see as Fox News’ conservative leanings.” Muto affirmed: “That’s correct. I think there is a lot of -- as has obviously been stated repeatedly in the media -- there’s a lot of right wing bias at Fox, and the way they’re slanting the news, I just couldn’t take one more election cycle where they’re on complete attack mode against the Democratic candidate.”
From the April 15 Reliable Sources:
HOWARD KURTZ: So, Joe, if you felt so uncomfortable with your situation at Fox News, why stay there and draw a paycheck for eight years?
JOE MUTO: Nope. I tried to leave many, many times. I sent out dozens and dozens of resumes. CNN must have gotten twenty resumes from me, and the truth of the matter is I was blackballed within the industry, that people, hiring managers, see Fox News on your resume, and they say ‘this guy’s a conservative, this guy’s a nut, we don’t want him in our organization.’ I was completely blackballed within the cable news industry after working at Fox News.
