Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has joined a former network executive in criticizing Fox’s coverage of the growing controversy surrounding U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, claiming the network’s approach was decided “from the top.”
Carlson, who spent more than a decade at Fox before her 2016 departure, weighed in after former Fox News vice president Ken LaCorte accused his old employer of “journalistic malpractice,” alleging the network gave the Guilfoyle story only sparse coverage. LaCorte placed the blame on frightened middle management.
Carlson disagreed with that explanation.
“As someone who was also at Fox for more than a decade I can tell you that Fox’s omission of this story from their show rundowns is not middle management fearful — it is [100%] coming from the top,” Carlson wrote on X.
However, the network did cover the story. According to Mediaite’s Sean James, Fox aired a brief report on the controversy Thursday, more than a day after the first major Wall Street Journal story broke. Fox also published a fuller article on Sunday reporting that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were weighing Guilfoyle’s removal.
Still, Carlson’s comments have intensified an unusual public dispute among former Fox veterans over how the network handled a damaging story involving one of its own former stars, who is also a prominent figure in President Trump’s orbit.
On Sunday, LaCorte argued that “fear and inaction” among managers explained what he characterized as Fox’s decision to largely ignore allegations that other major outlets were already reporting.
“To be clear, this isn’t a simple ‘mistake’ by Fox,” LaCorte wrote. “It’s a conscious choice to ignore a major story that has been reported worldwide by every major news outlet.”
LaCorte’s own track record at the network has drawn scrutiny. He was ousted from Fox News in 2016 amid languishing traffic at the website he oversaw.
“When Ken ran FoxNews.com circa 2016, it was languishing with 17 million unique [visitors per month],” a person familiar with the inner workings of Fox News told Mediaite.
Following LaCorte’s departure, a site overhaul led to a traffic explosion. FoxNews.com now draws approximately 163 million multiplatform uniques per month.
The controversy at the center of the dispute stems from a series of Wall Street Journal reports detailing allegations about Guilfoyle’s conduct as ambassador. Among them are messages in which Guilfoyle allegedly asked Trump donor Eric Deters to put $100,000 toward her American Express card bill while offering to help him gain access to administration officials.
Guilfoyle’s attorney has disputed the authenticity of those messages.
The Journal later reported that Guilfoyle promoted the interests of wealthy business figures while serving in Greece. That reporting has helped fuel discussions inside the Trump administration about whether she should remain in her post.
The back-and-forth between Carlson and LaCorte marks an extraordinary airing of grievances by former Fox insiders, both of whom spent years at the network before leaving in 2016. While the two disagree on who is responsible for the coverage decisions, both have publicly argued that Fox fell short on the Guilfoyle story, an assertion complicated by the reports the network did air and publish.
