FNC = Career Death?
NewsBusters’ Brent Baker writes about Joe Muto talking on CNN’s Reliable Sources about not being able to get hired elsewhere because he worked at FNC…
Muto, an associate producer for The O’Reilly Factor until Wednesday, told Howard Kurtz “I sent out dozens and dozens of resumes. CNN must have gotten twenty resumes from me.”
But, “I was blackballed within the industry, that people, hiring managers, see Fox News on your resume, and they say ‘this guy’s a conservative, this guy’s a nut, we don’t want him in our organization.’ I was completely blackballed within the cable news industry after working at Fox News.”
When I wrote that article on MSNBC’s POV metamorphosis; specifically the part about putting yourself in the position of an MSNBC anchor, that particular passage originally sprang out of a private discussion I once had regarding talent going to FNC and whether doing so could be career suicide. You could substitute “MSNBC” with “FNC” in those passages and have it be almost exactly the same result. It’s not just working at MSNBC that threatens your career chances. Working for FNC can be just as bad a stigma. It’s like the Roach Motel for two of the three cable news nets: “Talent goes in but won’t come out”.
So hearing Muto say that he couldn’t find a job elsewhere on the technical side is not surprising to me. But at the same time I’m not 100% convinced that it was all FNC’s reputation that blocked Muto from getting hired elsewhere. There is a glut of qualified people out there after all.
Inside Cable News 
April 15, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Plenty of talented, in front of the camera people have left FNC and gone on to find other jobs. I find it hard to believe that producers would be treated differently.
April 15, 2012 at 4:40 pm
In front of the camera talent have gone on to find other jobs…but not on the national scene. In the vast majority of cases, if you get cut loose from FNC you either wind up out of the business entirely or back in local.
April 15, 2012 at 4:42 pm
I can’t believe that other news organizations wouldn’t want a talented producer who works on one of the top-rated shows on the top-rated cable news channel.
If someone can do a good job and isn’t difficult to get along with, he isn’t going to be blackballed. If anything, smart competitors would want to know what’s worked and hasn’t worked at the O’Reilly Factor.
But looking at the bland “dirt” he gave up and how he outed himself (and got himself moved from suspended to fired) for a mere $5K, it’s likely he’s an idiot and it comes across in his resume, cover letters, etc.
April 15, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Kiran Chetry and Rita Cosby, just to name 2? They didn’t find other jobs on the national scene?
How much interest do you think there is every time Shepard Smith’s contract nears the end of its term?
April 15, 2012 at 5:28 pm
ED Hill shows up on CNN alot.
Heather Nauert went to ABC
Paula Zahn
April 15, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Major Garrett.
April 15, 2012 at 5:49 pm
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/are-fox-news-employees-really-blackballed_b122405
April 15, 2012 at 5:57 pm
What’s wrong with local? Probably a fair number who’ve left FNC for a local gig went to a Fox affiliate anyway.
There’s quite a bit of relevant information missing in order (for me, anyway) to better gage what’s going on. How many national scene behind-camera positions open up every year? What’s FNC’s pay schedule in comparison to the others? Up until a few years ago FNC was the new kid on the block so it follows that it was the one driving most of the hiring for new positions, taking in those who left competitors, etc. Now all of the networks are grown up and the hiring is likely limited to mostly normal turn over – more people vying for fewer open positions.
April 15, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Woudl love to see Major Garrett back on national TV and suspect Shep Smith could land a newtork gig if he wanted it.
April 15, 2012 at 6:47 pm
I’d love to believe that there’s some greater issue with “MSM: blackballing Fox employees, but not based on this guy. I have to think that someone who sells-out an employer for a month’s pay just might be giving off a vibe.
April 15, 2012 at 6:51 pm
I’d love to believe that, too, but Current hired Olbermann. Eh?
April 15, 2012 at 7:38 pm
I can’t believe that other news organizations wouldn’t want a talented producer who works on one of the top-rated shows on the top-rated cable news channel.
Maybe because other news organizations aren’t interested in being “news organizations”, and are more interested in being mouthpieces for the administration. Given the way this White House has gone out of his way to blackball FNC, if I was hiring, I’d think twice before hiring someone who used to work for #1 on the WH enemies list.
April 15, 2012 at 7:40 pm
The downward trajectory of Olbermann defies any and all rational explanation. He’s like the house in Poltergeist. Everyone buys him thinking that they’re the one who can overlook the skeletons.
April 15, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Kiran Chetry and Rita Cosby, just to name 2? They didn’t find other jobs on the national scene?
Paula Zahn
Major Garrett.
I will grant you these four.
ED Hill shows up on CNN alot.
Hasn’t stuck. Will not stick.
Heather Nauert went to ABC
Didn’t work out. Came back.
April 15, 2012 at 9:05 pm
If there is a blacklist, it’s because of the biases of of the other news organizations. FNC obviously has some pretty talented people.
April 15, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Ah yea blame the other real news organizations. I am never really surprised at the brain washing yall have taken over the years. thinking all the “other” news organizations are a mouthpiece for the government while FNC toots their own horn standing alone. yes they do stand alone as being a cheerleader for the republicans. and please folks, learn the difference between news and opinion/commentary/talk radio on tv. fox is a dead end place. “Journalists” may go there just to be working for the “number one cable news channel… but that’s where their journalistic career will die!
April 16, 2012 at 6:45 am
Can someone answer me why it is that we’re taking Muto’s word for it? Why are we believing him when he says that having FNC on his resume blacklisted him? How does he know?
Why are ya’ll believing that liar?
April 16, 2012 at 7:54 am
John Roberts will never work again? Maybe the only way to drive a stake through the heart of Olbermann is for FNC to hire him.
April 16, 2012 at 8:00 am
’twas not for a bit of FNC Republican cheerleeding, half of the stadium would sit with mouths taped shut, listening to the racket from accross the field.
April 16, 2012 at 9:43 am
Perhaps, if mole breath is correct, CNN is a traing platform for a paying job?
April 20, 2012 at 7:02 pm
FNC Miami correspondent Orlando Salinas took a CBS affiliate job in Roanoke. This is apparently a return to Virginia for him so I don’t know if this job is a downgrade for him or something he was hoping for.