Gingrich Accuses Fox News of Bias

The fight for the Republican nomination is no longer just candidate versus candidate. It’s candidate versus Fox News.

Newt Gingrich became the latest Republican candidate to lash out at the cable news network, accusing it of dooming his flagging campaign by slanting its political coverage to Mitt Romney‘s benefit. “I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’ ” Gingrich was quoted as saying. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.” He went on to add: “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”

Gingrich quickly found that Fox News’s tenacity is a match for his own. The network shot back, calling the former House speaker bitter. Fox News said that Gingrich appeared to have other motives: “This is nothing more than Newt auditioning for a windfall of a gig at CNN. That’s the kind of man he is. Not to mention, he’s still bitter over the termination of his contributor contract.”