Is Fox News 'shilling' for Mitt Romney?

A frustrated Rick Santorum says the conservative channel is giving the GOP frontrunner glowing coverage to help him nab the party's presidential nomination

Mitt Romney
(Image credit: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Corbis)

Rick Santorum complained this week that Fox News is "shilling" for Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primaries. On the radio show of Brian Kilmeade (a Fox & Friends co-host), Santorum said that Romney's inability to "seal the deal" despite positive coverage on the conservative news channel and a huge spending advantage proved that he "doesn't have the goods" to lead Republicans to victory in November. Kilmeade pushed back, saying that Fox had given Santorum, once a paid Fox contributor, as many chances as Romney to appear on the air. So, really, whose side is Fox on?

Santorum has it backwards: Santorum's "charge doesn't really make much sense at all," says David A. Graham at The Atlantic. "Not only have many Fox personalities praised Santorum and bashed Romney," the channel has repeatedly shown the former Massachusetts governor in a bad light. This Wednesday, Fox's America Live host Megyn Kelly incensed Romney by asking him whether the GOP's core really wants him. And Romney's "very testy" review with anchor Bret Baier last November marked a low point for his campaign.

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