Major Garrett, chief White House correspondent for Fox, leaving network for National Journal

Major Garrett leaving Fox for National Journal

NEW YORK — Fox News Channel chief White House correspondent Major Garrett said Wednesday he’s leaving the network after eight years to join the National Journal as a congressional correspondent.

Garrett, who worked at the Washington Times, U.S. News & World Report and CNN before joining Fox in 2002, said it was a return to his roots in print journalism.

“I’ve been seen, I’ve been heard,” he said. “I appreciate that. I just want to be read now.”

Fox named no replacement, saying his duties will be taken up its other White House reporters, Wendell Goler and Mike Emanuel. Garrett will leave Fox at the end of next week.

He’s leaving only a month after getting new real estate. Fox was granted a coveted front-row seat in the White House briefing room after the resignation of Helen Thomas from Hearst News Service.

Garrett said Fox “promoted me every step of the way” and his visibility at the top-rated news network helped him land the new job. He called himself a “conscientious objector” last fall when his network and the Obama administration were essentially at war following the administration’s accusation that Fox was a wing of the Republican Party.

Garrett, who landed an interview with Obama in November that signaled a thaw in the relationship, said the political controversy that often swirled around his network had nothing to do with his leaving.

“If you can’t swing it in this business you’ll be found out rapidly and you won’t survive,” he said. “All I ever tried to do, whether I was at CNN or U.S. News or Fox, was to do the best reporting I can and let that speak for itself.”

Online:

www.foxnews.com/