Murdoch’s suggestion to the Fox News CEO Scott: Stop the Trump Myth that the election was stolen, or what should Fox do?
On Jan. 5, 2021, the day before Congress was to ceremonially affirm Biden’s win, and an angry pro-Trump mob sacked the U.S. Capitol to prevent it, Rupert Murdoch forwarded a suggestion to Fox News CEO Scott. He recommended that the Fox prime time stars – Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham – acknowledge Trump’s loss. He wrote that he would go as far as to stop the Trump myth that the election was stolen. They did not do so. Scott said to a colleague that they needed to be careful about using the shows.
Those revelations and more are included in legal documents made public as part of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox. Dominion sued after Fox hosts and guests repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the company had switched Trump votes to Biden.
Judge Eric M. Davis said that the contracts should be given to Dominion in the ruling yesterday.
Fox News, CNN, Dominion, and Sammon: Defamation of Fox News During the 2020 Election and a Deposition by Fox Corporation
Fox’s attorney did not disagree with the remarks attributed to Scott. Even though the claims of Powell and Giuliani had been discredited, executives tried to intervene in the books of the two programs. Instead, Fox’s attorney made a broader argument against allowing scrutiny of the executives’ contracts, saying they were unnecessary given how many documents the network has already turned over to Dominion.
Keller pointed out that there was a difference between a host and a network executive who were pre-scripting material for the show, and a judge who was not.
Meanwhile, fixated on the erosion of viewers to smaller right-wing rivals, Fox News executives purged senior journalists who were fixated on reflecting the facts. Scott denounced Sammon in a note, the former Washington managing editor of Fox News. Scott wrote Sammon did not understand “the impact to the brand and the arrogance” in projecting Arizona for Biden, saying it was Sammon’s job “to protect the brand.”
Nelson, the Dominion attorney, retorted by citing a document obtained from Fox that “talks about the daily editorial meeting that occurs, including almost all of these executives that we’re looking at right now.”
CNN talked to some of the top legal experts and they disagreed with Fox News assessment of the legal filing. But even if Dominion does not prevail in court, it has left a permanent stain on the channel and revealed its true motives.
Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Dominion has to prove Fox demonstrated “actual malice” to win a defamation case. That means either knowingly broadcasting false and damaging information, or doing so with reckless disregard for the truth.
No one at Fox would directly comment on Baker and Glasser’s assertions, other than Baier, who released a statement taking some issue with how his objections were framed. A person with knowledge of Fox’s election coverage told NPR that a technical problem in the control room delayed the full White House win for Biden.
Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, acknowledged in a deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems that some Fox News hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Murdoch encouraged the firing of Lou Dobbs but allowed him to host a program until after the election, as he was an “abusive” host. Dominion argues that’s because Dobbs was popular with Trump and his supporters and the network was fending off viewer defections to Newsmax.
The court filing also revealed that Fox News executives had criticized some of the network’s top talent behind the scenes. Jay Wallace, the network president, said that “the North Koreans” did a “more nuanced show” than then-host Lou Dobbs. Jerry Andrews, the executive producer of “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” referred to host Jeanine Pirro as “nuts.”
To understand the Fox News phenomenon, one has to understand the place it occupies in Red America. It is no mere source of news. It is the place where Red America feels heard and seen. If there is a good news story in Red America, the first call should be to Fox. If conservative Christians face a threat to their civil liberties, the first call is to Fox. If you need to sell a book, the first call you should make is to Fox.
Murdoch confirmed to the lawyer that Fox was trying to straddle the line between speaking out against false conspiracy theories and also saying they are not true.
What is the big deal? Murdoch is known to be a hands-on proprietor of his news outlets. Now a blockbuster lawsuit is confronting him with the consequences of some key decisions taken by leaders of Fox News.
The fate of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News lies, for the moment, in the hands of a plainspoken judge known for his unflinching poker face.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis, a 12-year veteran of the state’s bench and former corporate attorney, has often sought to temper emotions in the contentious proceedings between the broadcasting giant and Dominion Voting Systems, a voting-technology company. Each side repeatedly has accused the other of acting in bad faith.
“If he was to be given a name in culture, it would be Cool HandLuke,” said the criminal defense attorney, who has argued before Davis but has no involvement with the case. “In court, he never shows any emotion, and I mean that in a good way.”
Newsmax had asked Davis to dismiss Smartmatic’s defamation claim. Davis ruled that the facts pleaded by Smartmatic lead him to “reasonably infer” that Newsmax’s airing of stolen-election claims was reckless enough to meet the high legal bar required for defamation.
Like Dominion, Smartmatic was the subject of false claims that its software had switched Trump votes to Joe Biden. Newsmax, Fox News and others broadcasted those claims.
Newsmax knew its statements about Smartmatic’s role in the election-fraud narrative were probably false, at least according to the judge.
“It seems pretty clear to me that [the judge] was not having any of the Newsmax arguments – and nor should he have, by the way,” says John Culhane, a professor at Delaware Law School.
While Culhane, an authority on defamation law, cautions against drawing too strong a conclusion from the Newsmax ruling, he says Davis “is very clear and he’s very step-by-step when it comes to the law.”
In totality, the documents continue to underscore that at its core, Fox News is not a news network. News networks work hard to deliver the truth to their viewers. These documents reveal that Fox News executives and hosts knew the truth and yet they peddled election lies to the audience. And when the handful of hosts and correspondents who have integrity at the channel tried to be honest with viewers, the highest levels of Fox News worked against them.
Smartmatic has sued Fox for $2.7 billion, but that suit is not as far along as Dominion’s. The New York state appellate court denied Fox News’ motion to have the case against the network thrown out. The claims against Fox Corp were dismissed by the ruling.
Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly said it would file an amended complaint that “details the involvement of [Fox Corp. leaders] Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch.”
Newsmax’s attorneys have a legal privilege that allows it to present allegations that are “unprecedented” without adopting them as true in order for the public to draw its own conclusions.
While he notes the First Amendment protects reporters in order to guarantee a “robust and unintimidated press,” he also states the “First Amendment is not unlimited.” He said a neutral reportage principle does not protect a publisher who “deliberately distorts” statements to “launch a personal attack of [its] own on a public figure.”
The stakes in the two cases are really high. Yet Davis does not seek to amplify his own profile. A photo of him wouldn’t be made available for this story. And the judge has repeatedly sought to ensure an air of comity around the proceedings, a hallmark of the Delaware legal bar.
In a February 8 court hearing, Davis apologized to the legal teams of both Fox and Dominion after he re-read an email in which he had said he came off as sarcastic.
He pinned it on his use of a pat phrase. “You know that typical sarcastic thing that judges say?” “What are you saying?” Davis asked. Don’t tell me I’m wrong, but tell me if I’m wrong. It means that I’m making some kind of statement. But that wasn’t why I was doing it.”
Fox News vs. the Right-Wing Talk Channel: The Case for a “Brand Threat” after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
The network’s highest-rated stars, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, took exception to the claims being made in group chats, but also denounced their colleagues for pointing that out.
In one text, Carlson said that he caught Sidney Powell, an attorney for the Trump campaign, lying. Sidney is a complete nut. No one will want to work with her. Ditto with Rudy.
The court document offered the most vivid picture to date of the chaos that transpired behind the scenes at Fox News after Trump lost the election and viewers rebelled against the right-wing channel for accurately calling the contest in Biden’s favor.
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan,” the network said.
Why? Money is the obvious reason. Power. Fame. Human temptations are universal. But the answer goes deeper. Fox News was a success because it offered its audience representation, even if it meant being Republican or conservative. And journalism centered on representation ultimately isn’t journalism at all.
“Please get her fired,” Carlson told Hannity over text message. Do you mean what the f**k? I’m actually shocked … It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company.”
CNN was told that she was not aware of the attempts by the top hosts to get her fired when she read the details of the legal filing.
A team led by then-Fox Corp senior vice president Raj Shah, formerly a White House aide to Trump, warned other top corporate leaders of a “Brand Threat” after Cavuto’s refusal to air McEnany’s White House press briefing on baseless claims of voter fraud.
Scott communicated with Lachlan Murdoch, the Fox Corporation chief executive, and discussed a plan to win back viewers. Scott said the right-wing talk channel would “highlight our stars and plant flags letting the viewers know we hear them and respect them.” Murdoch responded that the brand needed “rebuilding without any missteps.”
Rupert Murdoch is the responsible for Fox News and the cable company’s response to a ten-figure plaintiff’s request for damages
Jason Koerner/Getty Images; Jason Koerner/Getty Images; Carolyn Kaster/AP; Alex Brandon/AP; Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
On air, the network’s stars, producers, and executives denounced the same conspiracy as “mind-blowingly nuts” and “off the rails” – often in far earthier terms.
“[Rupert Murdoch] is responsible for Fox News. Fox News has played, by far, the largest single part in the polarization of American politics, in the amplification of political hatred. I would challenge any of you to name one person who has done more to undermine American democracy than Murdoch.
Attorneys for the cable network said in a filing that the company’s controlling owner was behind the ten-figure request for damages.
The Call to Fox News after the Capitol Attack of January 6, 2020: A Tale of Two Social Media Anchors, One Phone Call a Day After the Election
On Nov. 5, 2020, just days after the election, Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor texted a friend: “[T]here is NO evidence of fraud. None. There are allegations and stories. It is on the social media site, Twitter. Bulls—.”
His departure two months later was termed a retirement by Fox News; through an intermediary, Sammon has declined to comment on that, citing the terms of his departure.
After Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he tried to call into Fox News, but the network refused to show him.
The House select committee that investigated the January 6 attack did not know that Trump had made this call, according to a source familiar with the panel’s work.
The panel wanted to piece together an account of Trump’s movements, actions and phone calls that day. His newly revealed call to Fox News shows some of the gaps in the record that still exist, due to roadblocks the committee faced.
“The afternoon of January 6, after the Capitol came under attack, then-President Trump dialed into Lou Dobbs’ show attempting to get on air,” Dominion lawyers wrote in their legal brief.
“But Fox executives vetoed that decision,” Dominion’s filing continued. Why? Not because of a lack of newsworthiness. January 6 was an important event by any measure. President Trump not only was the sitting President, he was the key figure that day.”
If it would increase the stock of the Murdoch family, and hold their audience, then they were all in agreement with the idea of taking away the core engine of America’s democracy.
The First U.N. Ambassador and Daughter of Indian Immigrants, Haley Abrams, and the Case of Fox News on First Amendment Laws
I have never met Haley, but her story seemed like a good one as she was the first U.N. ambassador and the daughter of Indian immigrants. After immigrating to South Carolina, her mother earned a masters degree in education and went on to become a local public-school teacher. Her father taught at the college for 29 years, after earning a doctorate from the University of British Columbia. On the side, they even opened a clothing boutique.
“It’s a major blow,” renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams said of Dominion’s motion for a summary judgment, adding that the “recent revelations certainly put Fox in a more precarious situation” in defending against the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
“When damages get into the billions, with a B, that can be an existential threat to a journalistic organization — even one as lucrative as as Fox,” said Lyrissa Lidsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of Florida.
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The evidence in the defamation case against Fox was massive, and Professor RonNell Andersen Jones of the University of Utah said she had never seen anything like it before.
She said she had never seen evidence like that before the trial phase of a defamation suit. “I don’t recall anything comparable to this,” Tushnet said. Donald Trump seems to be very good at generating unbelievable situations.
David Korzenik, an attorney who teaches First Amendment law and represents a number of media organizations, said that the filing showed Dominion’s case against Fox News has serious teeth.
“This is a pretty staggering brief,” Jones said. The filing that Dominion made here is unique because it relates to both the volume of evidence and the timing of the evidence.
The Murdoch Defends Joe Biden’s Call for the Key State of Arizona: A New York Post Detection of Trump’s Claims About Sean Hannity
Fox takes those calls. In the time before Donald Trump, I spent my share of moments in Fox green rooms and pitching stories to Fox producers. I knew they were more interested in stories about, say, religious liberty than most mainstream media outlets were. I knew they loved human-interest stories about virtuous veterans and cops. Sometimes this was good — we need more coverage of religion in America, for example — but over time Fox morphed into something well beyond a news network.
“Some of our commentators were endorsing it,,” Murdoch said, according to the filing, when asked about the hosts’ on-air positions about the election. He wanted us to be stronger in condemning it.
► Murdoch responded to one email from Ryan by telling him that Sean Hannity had “been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.” In other words, Hannity, who always claims to say the same things on camera as when he’s off camera, was not being up front with his loyal audience for fear they’d rebel against him.
► In the aftermath of the election, Murdoch wrote in an email to the New York Post’s Col Allan describing election lies that Trump was pushing as “bulls**t and damaging.”
The filing said Murdoch gave Kushner a preview of Biden’s ads before they were publicly known, and that Murdoch also gave the candidate confidential information. The type of action taken would usually result in an investigation.
The documents expose that the business model is not about telling the audience anything, but about providing them with content that makes them happy and watch.
Murdoch was asked whether he could have instructed Fox News to stop airing Giuliani’s lies. “I could have,” Murdoch said. “But I didn’t.”
The Murdochs and other senior figures at Fox are said to be involved in the case.
Murdoch said in the deposition that he is a journalist at heart. I like to be involved with these things.
He had been resolute about defending Fox News’ call of the key state of Arizona for Joe Biden on election night — Nov. 3, 2020. Murdoch testified that he could hear Trump shouting in the background as the then-president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, told him the situation was “terrible.”
Scott forwarded his recommendation to the top executive over prime-time programming, Meade Cooper. She canceled the show over fears that guests would say the election was stolen and that she’d push back, which would be considered a token gesture, according to the filings.
By Nov. 13, Raj Shah, a senior vice president, was advising Murdoch, Scott and Dinh of the “strong conservative and viewer backlash to Fox” they were working to mitigate. Positive impressions among Fox News viewers dropped to the lowest levels we’ve ever seen after the election.
Fox Corp. board director Anne Dias wrote to the Murdochs on Jan. 11, 2021. “I believe the time has come for Fox News or for you, Lachlan, to take a stance. It is an existential moment for the nation and for Fox News as a brand.”
Rupert advised Lachlan, “Just tell her … Fox News, which called the election correctly, is pivoting as fast as possible. We have to lead our viewers which is [] not as easy as it might seem.”
On Jan. 26, Tucker Carlson had Lindell on his show. Murdoch told the lawyers he wouldn’t be taking money for MyPillow ads.
Norm Eisen, CNN legal analyst, said Monday that this deposition was among the most devastating he had ever seen. If you go beyond reporting, and your chairman admits there was endorsement, you’re in trouble under the malice standard.
The evidence suggests that Fox knew the truth and decided to go with an alternate narrative.
Murdoch, meanwhile, conceded that Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs promoted falsehoods about the presidential contest being stolen.
Who is he? One of the inspiration for the character in Succession was Murdoch, the media magnate and the Fox News Channel’s controlling owner.