Daily Caller blogger Mickey Kaus quit his job after, he said, Tucker Carlson (pictured above), the news site’s editor-in-chief, pulled Kaus’ column criticizing Fox News, Politico reported on Tuesday evening.
Kaus told Politico that Carlson removed the piece because it was critical of Fox News, where Carlson hosts the weekend edition of “Fox & Friends.”
“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,” Kaus told Politico. “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 said that there’s a rule at The Daily Caller against bashing Fox, according to Kaus.
“He said it was a rule, and he wouldn’t be able to change that rule. So I told him I quit,” Kaus said. “I just don’t see how you can put out a publication with that kind of giant no-go area. It’s not like we’re owned by Joe’s Muffler Shop, so we just can’t write about Joe’s Muffler shop.”
Kaus said he will now publish his work on his blog, Kausfiles.
In a statement to Politico, Carlson said he was “sorry” to see Kaus leave.
“Mickey is a great guy, and one of the few truly independent thinkers anywhere,” Carlson said.
Kaus told Politico that a reverence for Fox News has become an issue for all conservative media.
“It’s a larger problem on the right: Everybody is scared of Fox,” he said. “Fox is their route to a high-profile public image and in some cases stardom. Just to be on a Fox show is a big deal. And I think that’s a problem on the right, Fox’s monopoly on star-making power.”
