Fox News signs former George W. Bush spokesman as contributor

Fox News has signed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to a contributor role, the network announced on Monday.

“Ari’s decades of experience in political communication and immense knowledge of the White House and its interactions with the press will add valuable insight to our programming,” said Jay Wallace, president of news, in a statement.

“I very much look forward to joining FOX and to sharing my perspective on national, political and governmental events. When it comes to coverage and analysis of Washington, FOX has a powerful and important voice and I’m proud to join them,” Fleischer said in a statement.

{mosads}Fleischer, 56, “will offer strategic communications and political analysis across FNC and FOX Business Network’s (FBN) daytime and primetime programming,” according to the announcement.

Fleischer was once a CNN contributor and a frequent face on all the major cable news networks as a guest in recent months. He currently operates a small public relations company, Fleischer Communications, that boasts some very large clients, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and the College Football Playoff.

Fleischer served as former President George W. Bush’s first press secretary from 2001 to 2003. Prior to that, the Middlebury College graduate worked on Bush’s presidential campaign.

In an interview with The Hill in April, Fleischer said the media appeared to learn few lessons from President Trump’s election, which the pundits failed to predict. He argued the press needs to move on from validating “opinions or approaches of like-minded colleagues.”



“They don’t change their ways; they make and repeat the same mistakes that are mostly derived from bias,” Fleischer said. “And they talk to each other and reinforce their worst habits.



“I think they’ve been too far separated from the readers,” he said. “They’re too much surrounded by their colleagues. And it’s hard for anybody, given human nature, to break from that bubble.



“You’re here to report for the people who aren’t here,” Fleischer said. “They’re here to rub shoulders or to validate opinions or approaches with likeminded colleagues. They’re there to deliver the news to people that are hundreds of thousands of miles away and can’t possibly be there.



“Almost all of them think almost entirely different from you.”

Fleischer’s role with Fox is “effective immediately.”