Roger Ailes Bans Karl Rove, Dick Morris From Fox News Shows Without Special Permission (Report)

5:48 PM PST 12/4/2012 by Paul Bond

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Rove allegedly riled insiders when he challenged the network’s own decision desk on election night, while Morris repeatedly predicted that Mitt Romney would beat Obama.

Fox News declined comment late Tuesday on reports that, in the wake of faulty punditry pertaining to the recent presidential election, Karl Rove and Dick Morris have been banned from the network’s shows unless producers get permission from programming chief Bill Shine prior to booking them.

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Morris and Rove were staples on Fox News before President Barack Obama’s re-election. Rove allegedly riled insiders when he challenged the network’s own decision desk’s early “call” that Ohio went for Obama during the Nov. 6 election. The alleged sin committed by Morris was in repeatedly predicting that Republican challenger Mitt Romney would beat Obama.

Shortly after Obama’s re-election, both men were on Fox News. Morris, in fact, penned a piece for FoxNews.com admitting, “I’ve got egg on my face." But the appearances of both men on Fox News airwaves have been few and far between since then, and Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine reports that it’s due to a directive from Fox News chairman Roger Ailes.

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“According to multiple Fox sources,” writes Sherman, “Ailes has a directive to his staff: He wants the faces associated with the election off the air – for now. For Karl Rove and Dick Morris – a pair of pundits perhaps most closely aligned with Fox’s anti-Obama campaign – Ailes’ orders mean new rules. Ailes’ deputy, Fox News programming chief Bill Shine, has sent out orders mandating that producers must get permission before booking Rove or Morris.”

Email: Paul.Bond@thr.com