Behind the scenes at Fox News

Joe Muto wrote a book about his eight years at Fox News as an alleged undercover liberal. This excerpt article is mostly about Bill O'Reilly but the description of the Fox News hierarchy is fascinating.

For example, some unlucky guests were banned for life from every show on the network, a result of a diktat from the Second Floor. Comedian Bill Maher, once a semi-regular guest on “The Factor” and some other Fox shows, made too many cracks about Sarah Palin over the years, raising the ire of a powerful female VP who banned him from our air and demanded that all Fox-affiliated websites refer to him only as “Pig Maher.”

Sometimes entire organizations were given lifetime bans. The website Politico wrote something a few years back that rubbed Roger the wrong way (we were never told what exactly the transgression was) and word went out to all the shows: No more Politico reporters as guests. Also, any anchors who mentioned the site on air had to use the phrase “left-wing Politico” — an absurd designation for a publication that usually played it down the middle.

The rest is an hour by hour visit inside Fox's star hothead. Doesn't make me want to buy the book, but interesting read for the curious.