Moderator and a Panelist Ousted at ‘Fox News Watch’

MODERATOR AND A PANELIST OUSTED AT 'FOX NEWS WATCH'
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
“Fox News Watch,” one of two weekly television shows that assess the conduct of the national news media, has fired its longtime moderator and let go one of its more liberal panelists. Last week, the show’s moderator, Eric Burns, was told he would be terminated within the next two months. In an interview, he said he was startled by his sudden and unexplained dismissal, although last year his employment status was reduced from staff to contributor. In another shift, Neal Gabler, a media writer and historian who was a weekly panelist on “Fox News Watch” until last November, said that Fox had offered to renew his agreement but had never given him a new contract, leaving him in limbo. Ms. Klinghoffer disputed Mr. Gabler’s account and said the two parties could not come to terms. For five years, Mr. Gabler was considered by some to be the most critical voice of Fox News, once telling his fellow panelists that “it’s undeniable that this is a Republican-oriented network, and designed for Republicans who watch it.” In an interview last week, Mr. Gabler said, “While in fairness, one has to say that Fox could always point to me and say, ‘Here is someone who we give air time to, to criticize our own network, and to criticize it vigorously,’ I was fairly marginalized.” He added that he was just “one voice on one program.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/business/media/11fox.html?ref=todayspa...
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