A defamation lawsuit has exposed the inner workings of Fox News, America’s largest conservative network, and the differences of opinion behind and in front of the camera.
A $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News exposed the inner workings of the powerhouse conservative cable network just days after the 2020 US presidential election, which ended in Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump .
Dominion Voting Systems, a maker of electronic voting machines, argues in court that the channel divulged false information. Fox said the devices helped Biden and the Democrats “steal the election.”
To defend itself, the company called dozens of Fox executives and reporters to testify, as well as using thousands of text messages and emails from channel employees.
These messages show the often heated conversations that took place behind closed doors as Fox News – owned by tycoon Rupert Murdoch – tried to address Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
“Donald Trump is getting crazier and crazier”
Fox News has had a rocky relationship with Trump over the years.
He clashed with the network in the early days of his 2016 presidential bid, but once he reached the White House, network coverage became largely positive for his administration, particularly on primetime opinion shows hosted by Tucker Carlson . , Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
In the days following Biden’s 2020 defeat, however, court documents show many Fox executives and announcers criticized Trump and even mocked the former president.
Murdoch, the president of Fox News, wrote in an email that the then US president – and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani – were getting “crazier and crazier” after the election.
Carlson, host of the network’s highest-rated show, said he hated Trump “with a passion” and that his presidency has been a disaster. He predicted that soon his program would be able to bypass the former president.
He also made fun of Trump’s companies. “They all failed,” Carlson said in a message to his show’s producer.
That’s the kind of opinion shared by Trump’s critics, the same ones who are often the butt of Carlson’s ire on his late night show.
The former president is known for taking criticism personally and also almost never forgetting about it. That means Trump’s love-hate relationship with Fox News could be simmering as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up.
Murdoch doubted Trump’s claims
While Fox News anchors have offered Trump and his supporters a platform to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election results, behind the scenes many on the network did not believe the Republican’s claims and were critical of the coverage. of the network.
In November, Murdoch told Col Allan, editor of the New York Post (the same group as Fox), that half of what Trump said after the election was false and harmful.
It was an opinion shared by others on the network, including some top primetime anchors who have publicly expressed support for Trump.
Hannity, for example, said in a deposition that he doesn’t believe “for a second” the campaign claims of Trump’s legal counsel Sidney Powell.
In a late-night text message to other Fox anchors, Carlson wrote that Powell’s claim that Dominion voting machines stole the election “seems insane to me,” adding that the adviser was “making everyone paranoid and crazy, myself included.”
These conflicting opinions – critical in private and lenient or even favorable in public – have exposed Fox News not only to legal risk but also to accusations of hypocrisy.
Two years after the comments made in private, Carlson, during a program that presented new images of the attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol on January 6, said that “the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of democracy American” and that “no honest person can deny [isso]”.
His speeches on the Capitol invasion provoked harsh criticism from the White House and outrage from some Republican congressmen.
Fox worried about losing Trump supporters
As Trump’s attempts to challenge his election loss continued, it became increasingly clear to Fox News executives that criticizing the Republican could generate a backlash from Fox News viewers.
“We can’t make people think we’ve turned against Trump,” a Carlson producer wrote to a colleague.
Behind the scenes, Dominion filing documents show, Fox executives feared that coverage questioning Trump’s claims could lead conservative viewers to other right-wing news outlets like Newsmax.
Carlson said Fox was “playing with fire”.
“Do executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?” Carlson asked in a message to a producer. “An alternative like Newsmax could be devastating for us.”
According to Dominion’s lawsuit, this was the financial rationale behind the network’s decision to support election denial even though it knew it was false.
“It’s amazing how poor ratings drive good reporters to do bad things,” wrote Bill Sammon, editor-in-chief of Fox, in an email lamenting the network’s focus on election fraud allegations.
Primetime announcer vs reporters
The Dominion lawsuits suggest that Fox News was riddled with internal divisions.
More traditional news reporters were pitted against network op-ed anchors and vice versa. Early evening anchor Sean Hannity told morning anchor Steve Doocy that he had been torn apart by his peers in the news business.
“They don’t care,” Doocy replied. “They are JOURNALISTS”.
In a group chat with Hannity and fellow presenter Laura Ingraham, Carlson wrote, “We’re all officially working for an organization that hates us.”
As far as Fox news goes, the feeling was mutual.
“In my 22 years of affiliation with Fox, this is the closest thing to an existential crisis I’ve seen, at least journalistically,” wrote Sammon, the network’s managing editor at the time.
Murdoch said he hated the network team tasked with projecting winners in each state: On election night, Fox was the first to predict that Biden would win in Arizona, one of the most race-deciding states.
Two months later, the day after the US Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters, Murdoch asked if some of his commentators had “gone too far” in spreading false information about the election.
“They are still throwing mud at us,” wrote the executive, in response to criticisms by some Republican senators that his network was responsible for the violence.
What Fox News is saying in defense
It is not easy to prove a case of defamation under US law.
Dominion will have to prove that Fox News knew Trump’s allegations about the election result were false and caused significant damage to its reputation and business interests.
That’s why conversations between Fox News executives and reporters about network coverage in private messages and emails are critical.
The messages show a discrepancy between what they believed to be true and what aired for millions of viewers.
In a statement, Fox News said Dominion’s lawyers “are painting an inaccurate picture.”
The voting machine company, says Fox News, “mischaracterized the records, selected quotes stripped of context, and filled page after page with irrelevant facts under defamation law principles.”
Murdoch, for his part, complained about the way Fox covered post-election controversies, but said his network was doing its job.
“We report the news, and we have dozens of people on the net a day commenting on the news,” Murdoch said in testimony in the lawsuit. “And that was great news. The president of the United States was making absurd claims, but this was news.”
Even if Dominion doesn’t win the case, the damage to Fox News’s image is already significant and could contribute to what some network executives seem to fear most: the loss of trust from their loyal conservative viewers.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
