Megyn Kelly has one fan letter taped to the bulletin board of her office at Fox News.
“Thank you so much,” the note says to the host of “The Kelly File.” “Sharing news that does not create more resentment takes great style.”
In her new memoir, “Settle for More,” Kelly wrote that she realizes part of the nature of TV journalism is a degree of “public shaming,” to out corruption or scandal when it’s newsworthy.
“But the glee that the media – and the public -seem to experience in consuming each other’s personal embarrassments is disheartening to me,” she wrote. “I do my best to avoid these celebrations of destruction where I can.”
Kelly cited Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s drug addiction and NBC anchor Brian Williams’ fabricated story as stories she and her team decided they didn’t need to “hammer every night,” like others in the business did.
She criticized TV hosts (without naming names) who have "two attack-dog guests" on to tear down the public figure caught in a scandal without offering the accused person's side of the story. Kelly offered to have Williams on her show when his story broke, and said at the time that he was "by all accounts, a good person - and as it turns out, a flawed one."
"I'm not saying it wasn't a story; I'm saying I hate how we forget about our subject's humanity in reporting these stories," Kelly wrote in her book. "Some hosts don't care - they want scorched earth and take-no-prisoners TV. I did that as a lawyer, and that's not how I want to live anymore."
"Settle for More" has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list since it debuted November 15. Kelly's show airs weeknights on Fox News at 9 p.m. ET.
