Fox and Matt Drudge Prepare to Part Ways

Fox News Channel and Internet columnist Matt Drudge are close to parting ways.

After Drudge failed to do his Saturday show, “Drudge,” crying censorship because Fox wouldn’t let him use a picture it felt was a misrepresentation, the network gave Drudge an ultimatum: apologize and be let out of his contract, or be fired and sued for breach of contract.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Fox sources said it looked like the parting was going to be worked out amicably, despite the fact that at one point in the dispute Drudge called Fox executives “overgrown fetuses.” But they cautioned that nothing was final and that any agreement being hammered out could fall apart.

Drudge declined to say whether he would apologize, saying only: “I’m honoring my promise to work on an amicable mutual separation.”

Fox spokesman Brian Lewis declined to comment, and said the matter “is in the hands of the attorneys.”

No matter how it gets resolved, Drudge’s show of Nov. 6 (rerun on Nov. 7) is expected to have been his last for Fox. The Fox sources said they don’t know what will take its place Saturdays at 4 p.m.

The showdown started last week when Drudge wanted to use a dramatic, widely published picture of a 21-week-old fetus undergoing surgery to correct spina bifida. Fox officials objected, however, because they said Drudge wanted to use it as a jumping-off point to talk about abortion, to which he is opposed. Drudge, who maintains that he had no plans to misrepresent the photo, then refused to do his show, even though Fox, which has creative control over his 17-month-old show, offered him the option of using other pictures to illustrate the issue.

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The two sides already had been in conflict for several weeks, after Fox executives confronted Drudge, who is still often the network’s top-rated weekend show, about his declining ratings. The show’s viewership has dropped by 33% from the beginning of the year, when the nation was still embroiled in the controversy over President Clinton’s relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a story with which Drudge has been closely identified. Drudge asked at that point to be let out of his contract, which runs through February 2001, but Fox refused.