Comments on: Gawker announces newest hire: a current FOX News employee

Gawker announces newest hire: a current FOX News employee

huckleberryhart — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:23:54 -0800

Gawker has posted i inaugural column of "The Fox Mole"—a long-standing, current employee of Fox News Channel "I work at Fox News Channel. The final straw for me came last year. Oddly, it wasn't anything on TV that turned me rogue, though plenty of things on our air had pushed me in that direction over the years. But what finally broke me was a story on The Fox Nation. If you're not a frequenter of Fox Nation (and if you're reading Gawker, it's a pretty safe bet you're not) I can describe it for you — it's like an unholy mashup of the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post and a Klan meeting. Word around the office is that the site was actually the brainchild of Bill O'Reilly's chief stalker (and Gawker pal) Jesse Watters."

By: furiousxgeorge

furiousxgeorge — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:27:55 -0800

Poor Shep.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:30:02 -0800

This is brilliant, I hope it results in some good columns. I'm reminded of another major news organization I got to visit where lots of employees talked in hushed tones about how abusive and jerky one of the main anchors was behind closed doors and how much they all hated working for that person. I'd LOVE to see someone there do a secret blog of everything this horrible anchor says/does.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:32:03 -0800

This could be fun. Or bollocks. Or end very quickly. Still, fun.

By: Scientist

Scientist — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:32:29 -0800

I am dying to know which anchor you refer to, Matt.

By: cnanderson

cnanderson — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:33:33 -0800

It could end very quickly, or they could have banked some pieces before publication.

By: (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates

(Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:33:58 -0800

Lester Holt, right?

By: furiousxgeorge

furiousxgeorge — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:34:24 -0800

By: Trurl

Trurl — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:38:27 -0800

HOLY MOLY THE FOX MOLE LIKES CAPITAL LETTERS.

By: Danf

Danf — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:39:06 -0800

The had me at "My cringe muscles have turned into crow's feet."

By: Danf

Danf — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:39:32 -0800

The guy, up there.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:40:56 -0800

our "n@gger president" Now we know the real reason HRC took Secretary of State. Obama just wouldn't stop calling.

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:51:29 -0800

nation.foxnews.com is the funnest site ever! Find the most innocuous benign front page post you can, then read the comments to see how stories about orphan kitties can be tied to the fact that Obama is black/Muslim/socialist/lousy tipper. It's better if you picture the poster banging out their missive on a WebTV box and wearing a US flag bandana on their head.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:55:41 -0800

and a crying eagle snuggie, yes.

By: TheRedArmy

TheRedArmy — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:56:32 -0800

Maybe this is underestimating the vengeful spirit of an organization with infinite financial resources and whose renown is based on overreacting to stuff. Stuff that doesn't even usually happen anywhere near them or their families, let alone in their own office selling their secrets to the enemy.

By: Chuffy

Chuffy — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:02:17 -0800

We all know that the mole is a Kenyan Muslim plant. Nothing that comes from this person should be trusted as anything but fascist, socialist propaganda.

By: feckless

feckless — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:02:34 -0800

That's the most relaxed I've ever seen Mitt Romney.

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:03:01 -0800

Shepard Smith on Fox News is an anomaly in the universe that I don't understand. It's like if one day a cannon ball on the edge of a hill just stayed there. WTF???

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:05:46 -0800

Of course the intrepid commenters quickly found ways around these filters using letter substitutions and spacings, which is why many comments complain about our "n@gger president" and the "M u s l i m in the White House."

I've been going back and forth in my mind on which is more revealing: that their commenters gave them reason to disallow use of the word "Muslim", or that they actually went through with disallowing it.

By: zzazazz

zzazazz — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:07:29 -0800

I love that Fox News Nation website. I can't stop going and reading. It just blows my mind. Sometimes I make a comment just because I can only go for so long without being called a communist.

By: eugenen

eugenen — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:23:27 -0800

He's actually leaking footage to them? I gotta think FN's tech gurus have some pretty good ways of ferreting that kind of thing out.

By: sendai sleep master

sendai sleep master — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:26:06 -0800

Codename, Mr. Falcon!

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:27:38 -0800

From the leaked Romney footage: "Oh, I'll take the pink one". On repeat, it's strangely hypnotic.

By: cyphill

cyphill — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:29:42 -0800

That's the most relaxed I've ever seen Mitt Romney. Yeah, I actually think he comes out looking pretty good. People always question whether Romney is the kind of person you could "sit down and have a beer with" and here he comes off to me as having a very pleasant demeanor when his guard is down. If anyone comes out poorly its the braying jackass performing the interview.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:31:19 -0800

Until I hear otherwise, I'm just going to assume this is FOX news punking us a la Jimmy Boy O'Keefe.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:34:27 -0800

He's actually leaking footage to them? I gotta think FN's tech gurus have some pretty good ways of ferreting that kind of thing out.

Not if he's been stashing it for years on encrypted hard drives. That said, it seems unlikely that they could really track this stuff that closely. I mean, in order to do so they'd have to build a system to track and monitor every single piece of video watched by everyone, and then match them up with the releases. But these are TV network employees, who probably watch thousands of clips a day. And it's not like you can use DRM to prevent copying or whatever, people need to be able to edit these videos too. So yeah, I don't really see how you track down someone leaking videos (Unless he does something moronic, like emailing them unencrypted from his personal foxnews account)

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:36:09 -0800

I've been going back and forth in my mind on which is more revealing: that their commenters gave them reason to disallow use of the word "Muslim", or that they actually went through with disallowing it.

Or maybe the commentators hate them so much they can't even stand to see the word!

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:38:07 -0800

... and here he comes off to me as having a very pleasant demeanor when his guard is down. Of course he has a pleasant demeanor. He has, literally, nothing to worry about. Ever. Nor do his children, or his children's children. That's why he's so dangerous.

By: indubitable

indubitable — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:47:21 -0800

Not if he's been stashing it for years on encrypted hard drives. Did you... did you even click through to the article? It was shot in February. This is such a silly non sequitur.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:51:46 -0800

He's actually leaking footage to them? I gotta think FN's tech gurus have some pretty good ways of ferreting that kind of thing out. You mean like how the geniuses running SIPRNet managed to keep hundreds of thousands of classified memos out of the hands of Bradley Manning and, thence, the entire Internet thanks to WikiLeaks?

By: ben242

ben242 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:55:03 -0800

He's actually leaking footage to them? I gotta think FN's tech gurus have some pretty good ways of ferreting that kind of thing out. You mean like how the geniuses running SIPRNet managed to keep hundreds of thousands of classified memos out of the hands of Bradley Manning and, thence, the entire Internet thanks to WikiLeaks? posted by Nelson at 4:51 PM on April 10 [+] [!] I'm not the OP on that, but I'm guessing he means more like logs of who accessed that raw video, and when, and what they did with the files.

By: mrnutty

mrnutty — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:57:47 -0800

As a video security expert at Fox News I can say that we don't exist.

By: eugenen

eugenen — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:58:29 -0800

I'm not the OP on that, but I'm guessing he means more like logs of who accessed that raw video, and when, and what they did with the files. Yeah. I'm not an IT guru, but I would also think that they have a way of figuring out when and by whom files are removed from the system (whether emailed, burned to disc, FTP'ed, or whatever).

By: lemuring

lemuring — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:02:11 -0800

"Not if he's been stashing it for years on encrypted hard drives. Did you... did you even click through to the article? It was shot in February. This is such a silly non sequitur." (0__0 )

By: lemuring

lemuring — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:07:34 -0800

I would think that whoever the mole is, they probably have been planning this for a while. It also seems expertly timed to coincide with Santorum pulling out of the race. I wouldn't be surprised if the mole figured out how to cover their tracks enough to go undiscovered. It can't be -that- hard can it?

By: byanyothername

byanyothername — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:13:45 -0800

Shepard Smith on Fox News is family. Not close, so I don't have any stories or anything, and ordinarily it's vaguely embarrassing, in that, "Oh, heh, yeah. Fox News." but for once I feel like mysterious bragging on the internet. Let me have my brief moment of vicariously crawling through the vents. Because I will admit I have fantasized about this.

By: raihan_

raihan_ — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:15:04 -0800

for some reason, that text filter workaround makes me think of someone saying this:

we don't talk about m u s l i m s in front of the c h i l d r e n

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:20:17 -0800

some of us still believe in s o c i a l j u s t i c e and the g e n e r a l w e l f a r e of our s o c i e t y

By: vibrotronica

vibrotronica — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:22:20 -0800

Flagged as false flag operation.

By: Chichibio

Chichibio — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:25:57 -0800

nation.foxnews.com is the funnest site ever! NoScript and Ghostery throw up more garbage from that site than I've ever seen at one time on the wild plains of the internets, and I couldn't even figure out which script to accept so it would load the hilarious comments. I gave up after a while. But not before chuckling at the fact that one of the scripts being blocked was from an outfit called outbrain.com.

By: I Havent Killed Anybody Since 1984

I Havent Killed Anybody Since 1984 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:26:50 -0800

(Assuming this is legit) Going off of his statement that, "[he is leaving] sooner rather than later," I get the impression that he thinks he will be publicly outed at some point. That, coupled with his earlier statements about being blacklisted for working at Fox, I wonder if this is really his attempt to get off the blacklist by proving which team he really roots for.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:43:45 -0800

MUSLIM CAULDRON! I thought they shut that place down!

By: crunchland

crunchland — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:58:02 -0800

how abusive and jerky one of the main anchors was behind closed doors and how much they all hated working for that person. --- Since I doubt you ever visited Fox, I think we can assume it's either CNN or MSNBC.

By: Justinian

Justinian — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:00:33 -0800

Could have been one of the broadcast networks, couldn't it?

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:03:48 -0800

MUSLIM CAULDRON! I thought they shut that place down! I honestly don't know whether to make a joke about halal soup, or to say something along the lines of "Nigel Hawthorne did some great voice work in that movie." Instead I'll link to my favorite harira recipe. If you can't eat fava beans, you can substitute cannellini or just double up on the chickpeas.

By: Ausamor

Ausamor — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:08:43 -0800

Ooo, h a r i r a !!! Y@mmy.

By: Tell Me No Lies

Tell Me No Lies — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:10:41 -0800

mslim nggr blk knyn brth crtfct hts mrc

By: Infinity_8

Infinity_8 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:37:29 -0800

Any site that unabashedly takes a side is going to attract a bunch of bigoted true believers in the comments. At least they're not trying to look like hipsters.

By: bq

bq — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:37:52 -0800

Wait, why would someone not be able to eat fava beans?

By: crunchland

crunchland — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:39:53 -0800

Could have been one of the broadcast networks, couldn't it? -- well, he wrote "another major news organization," but you might be right. Still, I'm putting my money down on it being about Anderson Cooper.

By: narcoleptic

narcoleptic — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:57:29 -0800

Glad he picked Gawker to spill the beans, keeping with his high integrity level of organizations he is working for.

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:06:25 -0800

why would someone not be able to eat fava beans? They're highly allergenic to people with a certain genetic quirk; ironically, that quirk is most common in the genetic groups historically situated around the Mediterranean, whose cuisines are most likely to use fava beans.

By: desiderandus

desiderandus — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:07:02 -0800

Wait, why would someone not be able to eat fava beans? If I remember correctly, the oxidative stress of fava beans can trigger crises in people with G6PDH deficiency. So basically their red blood cells will disintegrate.

By: scalefree

scalefree — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:29:57 -0800

I am dying to know which anchor you refer to, Matt. Mike Wallace! Too soon?

By: jason_steakums

jason_steakums — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:48:22 -0800

Fox News kicks toooons of video footage down to Fox affiliate stations that isn't all that secured (lots of login sharing), plus most networks keep a satellite feed running out to affiliates with much of the same footage, plus you could just record the footage from a protected source with any number of video recorders (it's not, like, DRMed internally within the company), so there's a lot of ways to get the footage without being tracked.

By: pwnguin

pwnguin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:00:17 -0800

crunchland: "Since I doubt you ever visited Fox, I think we can assume it's either CNN or MSNBC." See, I was assuming it was Comedy Central.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:11:21 -0800

> At least they're not trying to look like hipsters. They sure hate them some "n@ggers" at Fox Nation but at least they don't wear skinny jeans!

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:14:51 -0800

Glad he picked Gawker to spill the beans, keeping with his high integrity level of organizations he is working for. Would it be safe to assume the "mole" is being paid by Gawker? Deadspin, one of Gawker's websites, paid for the Bret Favre/sexting story.

By: zarq

zarq — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:24:23 -0800

mathowie: "I'm reminded of another major news organization I got to visit where lots of employees talked in hushed tones about how abusive and jerky one of the main anchors was behind closed doors and how much they all hated working for that person. It's extremely common. Working in and around the media, especially with people who work on movie / television sets / newsrooms and with celebrities in other capacities, you pick up tons of stories about various celebs and media personalities. That of course can't be discussed publicly. But it's always fun being able to identify who various blind items are about on websites from personal experience. I'd LOVE to see someone there do a secret blog of everything this horrible anchor says/does." Probably not worth the risk if they're discovered, though. They'd likely be fired and sued. Many employment contracts now explicitly state that you are restricted from talking about your job and coworkers on social media. The language changes frequently, too. My company just updated ours.

By: to sir with millipedes

to sir with millipedes — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:25:56 -0800

Gawker has made no secret of paying their sources. This guy is described as an employee. I'd be shocked were he not being paid. Earth shattering scoop you got there, bobbyvan.

By: to sir with millipedes

to sir with millipedes — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:26:34 -0800

By: kingv

kingv — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:32:53 -0800

My money's on NPR. Terry Gross!

By: jason_steakums

jason_steakums — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:45:45 -0800

zarq - Many employment contracts now explicitly state that you are restricted from talking about your job and coworkers on social media. This gets really frustrating working in small/medium market local news, where management is just catching on to the whole social media "thing", and you get knee-jerk responses treating it like a threat. Lots of attempts to try to claim "ownership" of on-air talent's identities on Facebook, when they've come to the job already having a presence there from other markets/college/personal life. Like, beyond the whole "mind your manners and objectivity in public now that you're the face of our news brand" stuff, into the realm of "person X is no longer working with us, can you delete their Facebook for us?" craziness.

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:47:17 -0800

Speaking of "earth shattering scoops," let me say that I'm pretty underwhelmed. I hope Gawker gets more for its $ than an outtake that wouldn't get Harry Shearer out of bed (not to mention one that makes the presumptive GOP nominee look more human than ever). But I suppose that for Gawker (and the David Carr's of the world), it's enough to know that they're going to be keeping Ailes and Murdoch busy as they mobilize the plumbers...

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:21:04 -0800

Wait, why would someone not be able to eat fava beans? They're missing a census worker and some nice Chianti?

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:56:40 -0800

I'm so glad this is happening, and that Fox Nation was the impetus. People usually focus criticism on the comments, but that's an easy target (have you seen the average editorial comment section lately?) But the site itself is far worse, considering the fact that it's owned and operated by Fox itself. I mean, Fox News is a joke, but Fox Nation is beyond parody. It is obscenely, flagrantly, shamelessly biased in its rewritten headlines and story selection. Some sample headlines: House passes climate legislation?

Treason? House Passes Direct Assault on Industrial Base of America

Freshmen reps revolt against Obama's debt ceiling deal?

Tea Party Keeps Boehner from Selling Out USA

The very worst I've seen, from just after the terrible shooting massacre in Norway:

New York Times Reader Kills Dozens in Norway

What kind of twisted sociopath does it take to turn a tragedy like that into some snide political attack? It's sickening to see, and I'm surprised Fox hasn't received more flack for it up to now. It completely demolishes any claim to objectivity they might have, far more than the televised stuff that usually draws attention.

By: moorooka

moorooka — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:55:47 -0800

Rhaomi, those are... real?

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:07:57 -0800

I didn't want to link to them (I've only ever visited the site in Chrome incognito mode with adblocker to keep out the tracking crap and deny them revenue), but all those headlines are 100% real and representative of the front page's tone. Another doozie: they consistently refer to Bill Maher as "Pig Maher" in headlines. Really. (On review, the NYT Reader filth was "borrowed" from an Ann Coulter op-ed, but they did feature it as a bare headline on their site and did not differentiate it from their other content.)

By: naoko

naoko — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:01:18 -0800

Poor Keith Olberman's staff. I assume you are joking, but I have it on very good authority that he is, in fact, a jerk.

By: taz

taz — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:23:33 -0800

[hey, guys, maybe we can put a cap on aping FOX commenter censor-evading racist epithets? They're still f@ckng gross.]

By: Justinian

Justinian — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:31:20 -0800

It would not surprise me at all if Olbermann were about as fun as polio to work with. He manages to implode every single job he gets. Oh, sure, there's always a reason it's somebody else's fault. But have you ever had a friend who continuously makes poor life choices and they always seem to have a justification for each and every one? And, yeah, maybe if you look at them one at a time you can sorta see how they came about? But in totality it's clear your friend is just a fuckup? It's like that. Somebody can be right and good in a lot of ways and still be a raging jerk.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:54:44 -0800

(not to mention one that makes the presumptive GOP nominee look more human than ever). That is a gift. "More Human Than Ever" would be a terrific slogan for the Romney campaign.

By: wenestvedt

wenestvedt — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:15:02 -0800

We all know that the mole is a Kenyan Muslim plant. "The mole is a coffee bush?" That's as absurd as my car saying "The door is ajar." That's no jar, it's a door!

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:23:42 -0800

^ Flagged for plagiarizing Bill Hicks.

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:29:59 -0800

I'm in the camp of this-video-made-Romney-look-better. Particularly the exchange about the cost of the hotel, where Romney is doing exactly what he should (putting the money where the value is) and Hannity is being the political one. Sure the chat about horses is very upper class, but didn't come across as snooty particularly, more like how my wife might go on about a tennis racket.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:01:54 -0800

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:05:43 -0800

Sure, but I presume that you, like me, are a member of the liberal elite. How will it play in Peoria? I think the liberal elite are much more resentful of the wealthy than ordinary folks in Peoria.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:06:30 -0800

People always question whether Romney is the kind of person you could "sit down and have a beer with"... "Just call me Jack..."

By: naju

naju — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:11:52 -0800

The best part about this is that the mole genuinely seems to no longer give a fuck, with respect to their employment with Fox News. As they said, it's tough to get people at respectable organizations to look at your resume when you're someone who works for the punchline of news media. It might actually be advantageous to their career to be the person who went out in a blaze of glory.

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:22:13 -0800

Earth shattering scoop #2: Fox News HQ has old computers and shitty bathrooms.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:30:40 -0800

I think the liberal elite are much more resentful of the wealthy than ordinary folks in Peoria Say what you will about the Peorians, those shifty beggars know their place.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:32:26 -0800

ARGH. A Curse upon all who caused me to read Fox Nation. I just read a piece that demanded that Romney immediately not be nice to the President while at the same time being the grownup in the room. Then my mouth tasted like pennies and i woke up in the hospital

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:35:32 -0800

Here is the impetus article: Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs Find the most innocuous benign front page post you can, then read the comments to see how stories about orphan kitties can be tied to the fact that Obama is black/Muslim/socialist/lousy tipper. I couldn't find many innocuous benign front page stories ... but you're right. The spotlight story is an article about Jon Stewart and CNN. The first comment: "How many freebies does Obama get before he has to pay the American people back?" Obama Looks Scary Skinny

By: Big_B

Big_B — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:58:26 -0800

What are people doing in a bathroom stall at work when they need that much privacy? Oh. Nevermind.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:24:59 -0800

I'm in the camp of this-video-made-Romney-look-better. For some value of better, I guess.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:31:28 -0800

I shouldn't be boggled, astounded, etc. I've said it before, FOX News and it's related entities seem to be an exercise in making broadcasts from an insane asylum because a progressive approach to the mentally ill and insane is better than locking the unfortunate up in dungeons and pretending they don't exist but man alive, Fox Nation reveals that insanity is only part of the problem, embracing ignorance with glee is the heart of the problem. It's like the Walking Dead but without undead Zombies, but just as terrifying.

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:35:19 -0800

Well, better is relational. However, that link is very misleading; if you watch the longer version, he says he is not going to go Donald Trump on this (referring to the pink tie). I'm pretty sure he doesn't think Trump is gay. I don't care for the man particularly, but surely people can find actual problems with him or his platform instead of carefully constructed videos taken out of context. What is this, NBC?

By: crunchland

crunchland — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:54:36 -0800

Fox uncovers mole. Assessing legal options.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:55:33 -0800

Welp, they apparently found the person (and I assume will be firing them) faster than it took me to point out how fucking obvious it was that it would take them less than a day to find and fire whoever this is.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:59:22 -0800

Adding: seriously, if you're planning on delivering an inside, secret expose on a place, what in god's name, in the internet age, makes you think you can do this in real time? Undercover reporters like Gloria Steinem worked their craft for months, and in some cases years, to gather the stuff they had for an entire book, film or at the very least thorough Vanity Fair article. This person made Day 2 a blog post about how shitty the bathrooms are. Seriously? I don't think the stigma of "working at Fox" is why this person couldn't get another job in journalism. Fucking shame. A full length investigation about the inner workings at Fox would have been a bestseller. This person apparently traded quick fame on Gawker for an actual book deal and a chance to offer something of lasting impact.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:00:34 -0800

However, that link is very misleading; if you watch the longer version, he says he is not going to go Donald Trump on this (referring to the pink tie). I'm pretty sure he doesn't think Trump is gay. Do you think he thinks he's doing Donald Trump's voice in that clip? instead of carefully constructed videos taken out of context. What is this, ~~NBC~~ Mitt Romney? Dunno, Mitt Romney likes to describe carefully constructed videos taken out of context as "sauce for the gander." He probably loves it!

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:04:39 -0800

quick fame on Gawker Where are the cut-nuts and hipster grifters of yesteryear?

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:41:52 -0800

This person made Day 2 a blog post about how shitty the bathrooms are. Seriously? I don't think the stigma of "working at Fox" is why this person couldn't get another job in journalism. Presumably he was working up to something better than that. You don't expect serious behind-the-scenes stuff to go down every day do you? I thought it was interesting that the #1 news network had crappy bathrooms. And since they caught him so early, I don't see what Fox could actually do against him other than fire him. He took a picture of a bathroom and that's pretty much it.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:46:48 -0800

Do you think he thinks he's doing Donald Trump's voice in that clip? He making fun of gay men by using a very slight lisp. No damage to him there. I haven't heard much about Log Cabin Republicans dropping Romney ... I agree with the author - the proper pronunciation of "dressage" is worse, but this is all trivial. No windsurfing moment for Mitt ... yet.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:50:03 -0800

Well, Log Cabin Republicans are REPUBLICANS. They can put up with a lot.

By: TonyRobots

TonyRobots — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:00:11 -0800

That didn't take long.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:01:50 -0800

Heh. Did anyone put down money? Because it was a pretty safe bet.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:11:28 -0800

Interesting that News International are considering legal options, given their enthusiasm for the illegal ones.

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:18:41 -0800

I Am the Fox Mole, And I'm Still Here

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:42:10 -0800

This pleases us. We demand more of this! (pounds sceptre)

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:47:20 -0800

I Am the Fox Mole, And I'm Still Here LOL. Poor old Bob in accounting... though.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:47:44 -0800

Presumably he was working up to something better than that. You don't expect serious behind-the-scenes stuff to go down every day do you? I don't, which is why an undercover piece usually entails staying undercover for an extended period of time to gather a suitable amount of content. To go back to my previous example, Gloria Steinem spent three weeks, plus interview/prep time, undercover at The Playboy Club. Then she wrote her piece. She didn't send a paragraph a day to an editor and hope a boss doesn't eventually add 2 and 2 together. I worked at a non-profit that sent interns "undercover" to CPAC. They wrote their pieces after they came back with their swag bags, recorded interviews and pages of notes. If he/she is posting things as they happen, then he/she isn't "working up" to anything. They are merely finding things to photograph/record and post them ASAP which fits what a site like Gawker wants perfectly. LOLbathrooms works better for Gawker than "here's what a month of behind the scenes listening reveals about the general tone at Fox News," but it sucks royally for journalism as a whole. Look, I get it. It's great to make fun of Fox News because Fox News is a crappy news network filled with asshole producers, I'm sure, but they now know a person is doing this, are actively looking for them, and I imagine are at least somewhat competent enough to figure out sooner rather than later. There is a better, more interesting, and longer term piece here, and it's not going to happen now because Gawker wants daily traffic instead. And that's pretty much our fucked up state of journalism in general: a better, more careful story thrown out for fast click pulls.

By: straight

straight — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:15:02 -0800

This person apparently traded quick fame on Gawker for an actual book deal and a chance to offer something of lasting impact. Why exactly should we expect anything worthwhile from a person so dumb they 1) took a job at Fox News 2) were shocked and disillusioned to find out it's not really Fair and Balanced (TM) 3) decided to sell this newsflash to Gawker? There may be a few smart people at Fox, but none of them are unaware of what they had to sell to the devil to work there.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:44:54 -0800

To straight: 1. People take jobs for all sorts of reasons. 2. He knew what he was getting into, that's in the lead article, he really needed the work. 3. At least someone doing it! We all sell our souls to the devil one. moment. at. a. time.

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:47:50 -0800

You gotta pay the mortgage. The yuppie-nuremberg defense

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:58:38 -0800

Yeah. I'm not an IT guru, but I would also think that they have a way of figuring out when and by whom files are removed from the system (whether emailed, burned to disc, FTP'ed, or whatever). eugenen, since copying files doesn't involve removal from the system, I'm going to have to agree with your first statement. As long as the files he accesses are on Fox' servers, and not emailed directly to him, I'd say he could stay pretty safe a long time. If he's smart.

By: zarq

zarq — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:10:11 -0800

straight: "Why exactly should we expect anything worthwhile from a person so dumb they 1) took a job at Fox News" I've worked with people at FoxNewschannel here in NYC since the network was founded back in the mid '90's. It generates a lot of content that is not political. Or at least, not overtly. And there are quite a few staffers who work on that end of things. General non-political news stories and coverage. Breaking news. Sports. Event coverage. Health stories that have not become political footballs. Fashion. Beauty. Lifestyle. Celebrity-related stuff. Quite a few business stories -- even though some of that coverage has a conservative slant not all of it does. Etc. There are continuing issues with the way they report stories to the public. But the network is not staffed by a bunch of morons, the way I believe you are suggesting.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:19:32 -0800

Media Matters : From One Fox News Insider To Another: "I'm Laughing My Ass Off" "I'm laughing my ass off thinking of management's reaction. [Fox News chief Roger] Ailes will get Nixonian on the place. There will be plumbers, they'll comb an Enemies List out of the staff, psychological profiles, particularly if the mole starts leaking good stuff. They will probably narrow a list of suspects, and feed some warped information to each of them, and look to see if it leaks. Personally, I'd be sweating my ass off in there, even if it wasn't me leaking."

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:46:39 -0800

I'm laughing my ass off thinking of management's reaction. [Fox News chief Roger] Ailes will get Nixonian on the place. There will be plumbers, they'll comb an Enemies List out of the staff, psychological profiles, particularly if the mole starts leaking good stuff. And that is best of all. Even if everything this mole brings out is another version of LOL CRUDDY RESTROOMS, sending Roger Ailes up a tree is entirely worth it. The best revenge is the one you make the enemy inflict upon himself.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:49:41 -0800

Also, from crunchland's link: Contacted about Gawker's Fox mole, the source confirmed that "[y]ou can't say jack shit about that place without authorization" and that it's professional "suicide" to dish dirt about Fox to the press, even among alumni. "When you leave, and you're signing your separation agreement, and taking your severance pay, there is a lot of strong language about never saying a word about Fox the rest of your natural life, or they'll come and take back all your severance," the former insider explains. This is one of the most evil things I've ever heard about Ailes and Fox. It shouldn't be legal, and it needs to stop.

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:37:27 -0800

This is one of the most evil things I've ever heard about Ailes and Fox. It shouldn't be legal, and it needs to stop. Really? The "source" is referring to a fairly standard "non disparagement clause" that frequently accompanies a separation agreement.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:25:56 -0800

For the rest of your life? I don't care if it's Fox News or Amnesty International, this strikes me as deeply wrong.

By: Kid Charlemagne

Kid Charlemagne — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:52:09 -0800

Considering that thus far, all we have seen is footage of Romney changing ties and now, super secret footage of their men's room I'm wondering. This is not exactly Anonymous vs. H.B. Gary caliber intrigue. Fox's "We've already figured out who it is!" announcement came out far to soon to be believable, unless the legal options their reviewing regard how much trouble they could get into for systematically bugging their employee's homes. Right now I'm kind of thinking that the FOX News Mole is a router at a local affiliate with name: admin and pw: password and somebody at Gawker is having a ball.

By: antonymous

antonymous — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:34:05 -0800

Well, that's the end of that.

By: naju

naju — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:53:58 -0800

[A]s of today, I am free, and I am ready to tell my story, which I wasn't able to fully do for the previous 36 hours. Stay tuned for much, much more tomorrow. I guess they didn't have any sort of legal talk with him yet? About how they'd bury him in lawsuits and poverty for the foreseeable future? This is going to be interesting...

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:07:10 -0800

Aw, phooey. Well, 36 hours of Ailes panic is better than none.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:38:40 -0800

I am a weasel, a traitor, a sell-out No, mostly you're boring.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:55:25 -0800

As a mole, that dude makes Bradley Manning look like a model of discretion and good judgement.

By: jason_steakums

jason_steakums — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:36:01 -0800

Browsing and gathering material for your mole project under your own login is, to steal a line from Archer, just babytown frolics. "Don't leave giant red flags everywhere" is like, Mole 101. Big news organization like that's gotta have at least a handful of edit bays with access to that stuff that random PAs duck in and out of all day, start there. Or brush up on your MOS Protocol and write a rudimentary MOS client to run from a thumb drive (it's really really really easy, actually, I mean technically you don't need to write anything and you can do it with PuTTY), find one of the many workstations in production areas where people don't log off because it's a PITA, and get to snooping all over the dang place. Broadcast/newsroom automation is not really built on secure protocols, which leads dumb tricks to amuse each other on a night shift like sending socket commands to a Viz Trio workstation that someone's working at on the other side of the newsroom, populating all of their CGs with insults and whatnot. For more dumb newsroom tricks, start with this knowledge: you can make a functioning GPO trigger out of damn near anything and a lot of production equipment uses Sealevel GPI cards.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:11:00 -0800

As a mole, that dude makes Bradley Manning look like a model of discretion and good judgement. ... like, Mole 101. -- You're maybe forgetting that this guy actually works (worked?) for Fox News.

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:53:38 -0800

Hi Roger. It's Me, Joe: The Fox Mole Hi. My name is Joe Muto. I was the Fox Mole. Two hours ago I was called into a meeting with Dianne Brandi, the Fox News Executive Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs and suspended indefinitely... with pay, oddly enough. They nailed me. In the end, it was the digital trail that gave me away. They knew that someone, using my computer login, had accessed the sources for two videos that ended up on Gawker over the past few weeks. They couldn't prove it entirely, but I was pretty much the only suspect. I denied it, which is why they didn't fire me outright. But two nice gentlemen from security escorted me to my desk to pack up my stuff, and it was pretty obvious at that point that I would not be setting foot back into 1211 Avenue of the Americas again.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:55:38 -0800

Oh, and as it turns out, he was an associate producer at "The O'Reilly Factor".

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:17:15 -0800

Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Responds To Gawker's Mole

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:40:00 -0800

"...they hate me because I make money and I do it legitimately and they don't like my politics, and that's America." So much for pretenses of fairness and balancedness.

By: BobbyVan

BobbyVan — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:05:01 -0800

The Fox News Mole Only Made $5,000 From Gawker According To Report

By: straight

straight — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:17:14 -0800

To be fairer than Fox, it would be possible to slander Fox news simply because you don't like Ailes's politics, even if he never let his politics influence their editorial slant. Much as I dislike the guy, I was impressed by how slick his statements were about the whole thing. "Who cares if there's a mole. We've got nothing to hide."

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:17:46 -0800

If he can come up with something a little more pointed than crappy bathrooms and romney's choice of tie colors, and actually write a book, he could maybe make a little more than that, assuming he doesn't have to do some deal with the non-disclosure devil.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:00:55 -0800

How Sean Hannity Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Teleprompters

By: zarq

zarq — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:18:02 -0800

"Here's a Picture of Bill O'Reilly With a Topless Woman Along With the Fox News Legal Threat Meant to Quash It" Gawker seems to be itching for a fight. Are they really potentially liable for printing materials taken from Fox's archives without permission?

By: furiousxgeorge

furiousxgeorge — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:37:09 -0800

I like that all the comments on that so far are about the typeface in the legal threat.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:48:22 -0800

Much as I dislike the guy, I was impressed by how slick his statements were about the whole thing. "Who cares if there's a mole. We've got nothing to hide." "Yes, we're completely fair and above-boards. We have nothing to hide! Come to our open house!" BUT WHEN YOU LEAVE US IF YOU SAY A WORD ABOUT YOUR TIME HERE WE WILL COME AFTER YOU WITH KNIVES.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:01:23 -0800

For the rest of your life? idk, it seems sort of appropriate that Fox News would think that working there should, like murder and genocide and treason, have no statue of limitations.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:01:43 -0800

statuTe, goddammit

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:42:10 -0800

Oh, now I want to draw a picture of the Statue of Limitations. It'd stand opposite the Statue of Liberty, and be of a smirking Rush Limbaugh holding up his hand palm-out.

By: zarq

zarq — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:05:31 -0800

Fox News Lawyers To Joe Muto: 'Your Admissions Are Admissions Of Likely Criminal And Civil Wrongdoing.' Includes the letter they sent him. Forbes: What's the going rate for inducing someone to commit career suicide? Apparently you can do it for five grand, as long as that person has a sufficiently large ax to grind against his employer.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:43:29 -0800

Still seems a bit false flag to me. Fox News comes out smelling great.

By: bq

bq — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:09:49 -0800

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:44:25 -0800

I wonder if this is really his attempt to get off the blacklist by proving which team he really roots for. i can't imagine any news organization that would want to hire someone who show's they'll run to gawker for 5k, no matter what their politics. also, 5k must be their going number - that's how much supposedly paid for the iphone.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:44:15 -0800

Are they really potentially liable for printing materials taken from Fox's archives without permission? zarq, under the mantle of "reporting news" I'd imagine they are free and clear. Besides, what would they get sued for? - it's not liable if it's accurate.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:25:00 -0800

In point of fact, a mole at Fox News that doesn't get found out would still be awesome. The concept is sound, it was just the execution that was lacking.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:20:23 -0800

Ah, I thought I'd had this bookmarked somewhere: Actual News Headlines Vs. Fox Nation Headlines Examples:

USDA gay-sensitivity training seeks larger audience vs. Obama Bureaucrats Imposing Radical Homosexual Sensitivity Training? Malaysia police slammed for cattle-branding women vs. Malaysian Muslims Cattle-Brand Prostitutes AP poll: Economic worries pose new snags for Obama vs. AP: Obama Has a Big Problem With White Women Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan vs. Obama Doesn't Thank Petraeus NY Officials Want Schools to Teach About Unwanted Baby Laws vs. NYC Public Schools Teaching How to Abandon Your Baby? Dollar Weakens, Treasuries Gain as U.S. GDP Growth Slows; Stocks Advance vs. U.S. Dollar Getting Murdered Mandela asks to meet Michelle Obama vs. Michelle Obama Snubbed in Africa, But Looking Forward to Private Safari

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:59:13 -0800

Former Fox News Mole Joe Muto Searched By DA's Office Over Fox News Mole-ing

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:32:10 -0800

the warrant accuses him of grand larceny and conspiracy—WITH WHOM? That seems obvious to me. Joe Muto + Gawker = conspiracy, no? Isn't conspiracy basically talking about doing something illegal with someone? If they signed a contract (which they probably did since he was paid) and if there was any illegal behavior discussed (such as illegally acquiring content), wouldn't it be a conspiracy? IAONAL.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:49:58 -0800

Contracts exist in civil law. Breaking a contract is not (usually) illegal. (IAsoNAL)

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:47:21 -0800

Manhattan DA Refuses to Disclose Contacts With Roger Ailes or Fox News