The Insider

Years ago I had a little file in my computer that I jokingly referred to as Project Prometheus. No, it obviously had nothing to do with the upcoming movie or the viral campaign promoting it -- the file contained a couple of notes I had made on the possibility of getting a job at Fox News, putting in some time there, then turning the inside information I gleaned into a book or a series of articles. For the record, this was long before I lost my job at CNN or even before I started this site, so real-time online reportage was still kind of in its infancy -- which might be why what a current employee of Fox News is doing is so much more visceral and undeniably amusing.

In case you haven't heard yet, Gawker claims to have a mole inside Fox News, a long-time employee of the network who's now decided to play double-agent and relay state secrets to the site by way of columns he or she is writing. Is it juvenile? Certainly. Is it entertaining as hell, especially if you know how insanely paranoid Fox News is when it comes to internal security and the omerta its employees are expected to tacitly take upon being welcomed into the family? Oh yeah. Not to mix metaphors, but make no mistake: Right now Roger Ailes's in-house secret police are setting up metal detectors and an interrogation room, under orders to black-bag anybody they suspect is the spy. This guy's gonna be caught eventually -- count on it. But until he or she is, the details trickling out and the chase -- even if we can't see all of it playing out behind the walls of the Fox News keep in Midtown Manhattan -- are gonna be a blast to watch.

Gawker: Announcing Our Newest Hire: A Current Fox News Channel Employee/4.10.12

Update: Well, that didn't take long. Fox News's fingermen say they've found the mole. Look for the televised in-house execution of the traitor as an object lesson to the rest of the staff to follow.

Update to the Update: Maybe Alies's ton ton macoute knows who the mole is, maybe they don't -- but apparently he hasn't been hauled off to the waterboard room just yet. Could be they're just trying to scare the hell out him hoping he'll slip up and show himself.