NYTimes, Fox News Strike Deal With Conservative Researcher For Clinton Dirt

The New York Times and Fox News have both struck agreements with a conservative author for access to his research on Hillary and Bill Clinton.

The Times mentioned the deal on Sunday in the middle of an article about author Peter Schweizer’s forthcoming book, “Clinton Cash”:

In the long lead up to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign announcement, aides proved adept in swatting down critical books as conservative propaganda, including Edward Klein’s “Blood Feud,” about tensions between the Clintons and the Obamas, and Daniel Halper’s “Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.”

But “Clinton Cash” is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book.

Speaking to anonymous sources, Politico’s Dylan Byers reported on Monday that the Washington Post had not entered into its own agreement with the author.

Fox News released a statement on Monday, pushing back against the NYT’s description of its deal with Schweizer as an “exclusive arrangement.”

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple later tweeted that the paper confirmed it did in fact secure a deal with Schweizer:

WaPo confirms “arrangement” with Peter Schweizer of “Clinton Cash” book, says purpose was to get access to allegations b4 book’s pub date.

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) April 20, 2015

Byers also reported that the Times’ move to cut a deal with Schweizer “raised a few eyebrows in that paper’s newsroom.”

This post has been updated. This post has been updated to fix the spelling of Eric Wemple’s name.