The Murdoch-Fox News Correspondence: The Story of the Day The New York Times Sent in the Wall Street Journal is in the Corner of Donald Trump
That was the short but powerful headline on The New York Times’ scoop Thursday afternoon that surprised the former president, sent newsrooms into a flurry, and set into motion a historic and uncharted course for the country.
CNN quickly transitioned to breaking news mode and devoted hours of programming to coverage on the major development, after the unprecedented news sent convulsions through the media landscape.
Murdoch once viewed Trump as so contemptuous, he declared he should not have his name mentioned on his network, that today Fox News is one of several outlets rushing to defend him.
Murdoch has a stable of right-leaning hosts and commentators on Fox News, which paints an ugly picture of America, one in which George Soros- controlled prosecutors target conservatives in an unjust manner.
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The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which is known to echo Murdoch’s personal views, published a piece calling Trump’s indictment a “sad day for the country.” The editorial suggested that the action was carried out by the Manhattan District Attorney for political reasons.
“There is no doubt that Mr. Bragg is doing what most Democrats want,” The WSJ’s editorial board wrote. “They want Mr. Trump in the dock and at the center of the political debate. They think the spectacle and indictment will help him become the Republican nominee if he isn’t convicted. He motivates Democrats and divides Republicans and independents so they think he is the easier candidate to beat.
The New York Post was in the corner of Trump. The outlet’s website prominently featured a story saying Bragg “has a bad case of bias,” among other Trump-friendly articles.
Lawyers have used emails to build their defamation case, which shows Murdoch’s control over the news organizations.
The messages released in the case suggest that the executives of the network were worried their viewers would switch to another channel to watch Trump. He is almost certainly looking after his bottom line.
Texts and emails released as part of the lawsuit show how Fox employees privately mocked election fraud claims made by Donald Trump, even as the network amplified them to appease viewers.
The Fox News producer is accusing the lawyers for Fox of coercing her into giving incorrect testimony.
The Judge said that calling the statements “opinions” seems oxymoronic as well as asserting that the statements are news and accurate reports of official proceedings.
Lou Dobbs, J. C. Fox, S. J. Quinney, and U.S. Senator Erice Fox: Electoral Fraud and Electronic Voting
For example, in a “Lou Dobbs Tonight” broadcast on Nov. 24, 2020, Mr. Dobbs said: “I think many Americans have given no thought to electoral fraud that would be perpetrated through electronic voting; that is, these machines, these electronic voting companies including Dominion, prominently Dominion, at least in the suspicions of a lot of Americans.”
RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor and First Amendment scholar at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, said the judge had signaled that he disagreed with many of Fox’s arguments.