Did Fox News out a source to protect a Republican Senator?
Saturday, June 20th, 2009by Larisa Alexandrovna
Edited and updated by Stephen C. Webster
It is looking like someone at Fox News may have exposed a source who came forward with serious allegations about a Republican senator.
The source in question is Doug Hampton, who along with his wife previously worked for Senator John Ensign. Hampton allegedly sent a letter to Fox’s Megyn Kelly about an affair that Sen. Ensign had with Hampton’s wife. The letter was allegedly sent some five days before Sen. Ensign publicly confessed his infidelity, leading to speculation that someone at Fox notified Ensign. This morning Fox denied receiving the letter or any communications from Hampton until about a day before Ensign’s confession.
Ultimately, when they did follow up with Hampton, Fox News producer Tom Lowell told Huffington Post, they found his claims were not "credible."
"We always evaluate people when they call into the newsroom in terms of: does this sound like its solid? Does it sound like its actionable?" Lowell said. "There were some questions here, so we decided that we would make some inquiries but that it wasn’t something we needed to move on immediately. And before we could nail everything down and confirm this story the Senator had already announced his press conference."
Lowell denies that anyone at Fox News would have contacted the senator to give him a head’s up on Hampton’s allegations.
But it may not be so simple.
Here is a snip from the Las Vegas Sun – which has done exceptional coverage of this story:
"In a letter dated five days before Sen. John Ensign’s public confession of an extramarital affair, Doug Hampton pleaded to a national Fox News anchorwoman for help in exposing the senator’s “heinous conduct and pursuit” of Hampton’s wife.
Hours before the Sun obtained an unsigned copy of the letter, Ensign’s spokesman said the senator disclosed the affair with Cynthia Hampton because her husband had approached “a major television news channel before Tuesday,” the day Ensign admitted the affair. “We learned of this fact before the news conference,” the spokesman noted in an e-mail."
Doug Hampton’s letter is chilling, raising serious questions of threats and retaliation from Ensign that should have been considered when someone at Fox seems to have tipped Ensign off. It should be noted that Hampton does not specify the nature of his concerns nor provide supporting materials for his allegations. That said, Hampton does write that he wishes to meet with Fox News to furnish them with the information. Ensign went public only five days later, making it unlikely that Hampton had the time to meet with Fox and present them with the particulars.
Read more here — http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/06/did-fox-news-out-a-source-to-protect-a-republican-senator/
