Shut Fox Down

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Transcript by http://www.newsy.com BY ZACH TOOMBS Newt Gingrich might have lost an influential friend in the cable news business this week. After the GOP candidate called Fox News biased, the channel's chief is saying Newt's not welcome to return to his role as a Fox News contributor. Gingrich was meeting with Delaware Tea Party leaders Wednesday, when RealClearPolitics reports he said: "I think FOX has been for Romney all the way through. In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than FOX this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of FOX, and we're more likely to get distortion out of FOX. That's just a fact." Fox News responded in a statement, saying the candidate was "bitter" and "auditioning for a windfall of a gig at CNN." On the air, Fox News' Bret Baier was quick to address Newt's claim. "The numbers skew in Gingrich's favor. Since announcing their candidacies, Gingrich last May and Romney a month later, the former Speaker has been on Fox News channel air more than 100 times." Newt served as a Fox News contributor until his contract, along with Rick Santorum's, was severed by Fox News last spring — when the candidates jumped into the GOP race. At a University of North Carolina forum, Fox News President Roger Ailes said Gingrich shouldn't expect to be welcomed back. "In at-times irreverent responses, Ailes referred to CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien as 'that girl that's named after a prison' and threw a jab at Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, asserting that the candidate has only criticized Fox News' coverage because he's 'trying to get a job at CNN because he knows he isn't going to get to come back to Fox News.'" Slate writes Gingrich might be shooting himself in the foot with these comments, considering the campaign debt he'll have to pay off. "It's a classic, needlessly mean Fox News response. It should also spook Gingrich. He's got $4.7 million in campaign debt, by his own admission. His strategy for making the money back is to 'work and pay it off.' But he was making nearly $1 million annually from Fox when the network terminated his contract." According to the Pew Research Center, Gingrich might have a reason to be displeased with coverage of his campaign — but not just on Fox News. "Newt Gingrich ... has virtually fallen out of the story. Last week, he registered as a significant newsmaker in just 1% of campaign stories. And what little there was wasn't flattering. There was a yawning gap between his positive coverage (16%) and negative coverage (47%)."