Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Dick Morris -- Absent From Fox For Nearly Three Months -- To Appear On CNN


MATT GERTZ/Media Matters For America.

Fox News political analyst Dick Morris, who has been absent from the network for nearly three months following a directive that any segments with him would have to be cleared by a top network executive -- will appear on CNN February 6.

Morris announced the appearance -- his first on CNN since 2002, according to a search of the Nexis database -- on his website, writing, "You read it right! I will be a guest on The Piers Morgan Show on CNN, yes CNN, this Wednesday night at 9 PM EST."

After appearing dozens of times to provide political analysis in the weeks leading up to the 2012 election, Morris has not appeared on Fox News since a November 12 interview on Hannity, according to a Media Matters review of the Nexis and TVEyes.com databases. By contrast, following the 2008 presidential election, he appeared 19 times on Fox's primetime alone from November 13, 2008, through February 5, 2009, making regular appearances to discuss the political news of the day on The O'Reilly FactorHannity and Colmes/Hannity, andOn the Record.

Morris' shoddy prognostication and unethical behavior has been a perpetual source of humiliation for Fox News. He has been a paid contributor to the network since 1998.

In December, New York magazine's Gabe Sherman reported that both Morris and fellow Fox political analyst Karl Rove had been benched by the network, with producers requiring approval in order to book either pundit. According to Sherman, Morris was considered a "punch line" by his colleagues due to his "Romney boosterism and reality-denying predictions." While Rove has returned to the network in recent days and even had his contract renewed, Morris has been absent.

According to TVEyes, the last time Morris was even mentioned on Fox News was in mid-December and it was a mocking reference made by a puppet. On the December 12 edition of Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, "Pinch" -- a puppet that's comprised of a stack of New York Times papers and voiced by Bill Schultz -- said that Nate Silver is "sort of like Dick Morris but, you know, accurate."
UPDATE: A CNN spokesperson confirmed to Media Matters that Morris will appear as a guest on the February 6 edition of Piers Morgan Tonight.
UPDATE 2: CNN's Howard Kurtz and Politico's Mike Allen are reporting that Fox News has allowed Morris' contract to expire and will not renew it.

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