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☆ White House calls on Fox News executives to retract bogus FBI informant claims against Biden
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —The White House is formally calling on Fox News to walk back its coverage of bribery and corruption allegations against President Joe Biden. The letter is the latest from the Biden White House, which has taken a more aggressive approach to news coverage of the president that it sees as unfair in the run-up to the November election. Earlier this month, Sams sent a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association, protesting coverage of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified material. Since Fox News has declined to take the responsible course of action and meaningfully correct the record, the White House is now moving to formally request the network do so. And, in a statement the network provided to CNN, Fox News didn’t directly address the White House’s request.

Persons: Joe Biden, Ian Sams, Fox, ” Sams, Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, Bryan Boughton, Sams, Robert Hur’s, Biden, “, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, Alexander Smirnov, Hannity, Watters, Smirnov, Brooke Singman, newsrooms, Fox News didn’t, ” Organizations: New York CNN, Fox News, White House, FBI, Biden White, White, ’ Association, Fox, Voting Systems, Fox News Channel, CNN, “ Fox News Media Locations: New York, Washington

☆ Smartmatic lawyer says Rupert Murdoch is like a 'mafia boss' who 'ordered a hit' with Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A Smartmatic lawyer compared Rupert Murdoch to a "mafia boss" in a court hearing Wednesday. The company says Fox News and parent company Fox Corp. defamed it through 2020 election conspiracy theories. Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch "ordered a hit" on Smartmatic, the Smartmatic lawyer argued. Connolly made the extended analogy to argue that Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, shouldn't escape liability in the case. Erin Murphy, an attorney representing both Fox Corp. and Fox News, argued that it wasn't enough to show that the Murdochs were generally involved in shaping Fox News's editorial coverage.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Rupert, Lachlan Murdoch, Johnny, Erik Connolly, who's, doesn't, Connolly, Lachlan, Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, Donald Trump's, Erin Murphy, Smartmatic, Murphy, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell —, Joe Biden, Trump, Jean Catuffe, David B, Cohen, Powell, Giuliani Organizations: Fox News, Fox Corp, Service, Fox, Trump, Republican, Dominion, Newsmax, New Locations: Wall, Silicon, Smartmatic, Manhattan

☆ Analysis: Fox News is trying to sugarcoat its right-wing propaganda. Some news outlets are falling for it
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

If newsrooms somehow didn’t comprehend what Fox News really was before that explosive lawsuit, there isn’t an excuse now. Most outlets still haven’t worked up the courage to describe Fox News as a “right-wing channel.” The WaPo on Tuesday didn’t even refer to the outlet’s prime time bloc of Donald Trump propagandists in such terms. It should not be difficult or controversial to describe Fox News as right-wing. The channel has evolved in disturbing ways, having morphed from a traditionally conservative news network into a MAGA propaganda monster. At this point, failing to point out this unsightly reality might just say more about those media outlets than Fox News itself.

Persons: Rupert, Lachlan Murdoch, Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, —, Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, MacCallum, haven’t, Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, MAGA Organizations: CNN, Fox News, Republican Party, Voting Systems, Dominion, Fox, GOP, Trump

☆ Trump confirms he will not participate in first GOP primary debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Kristen Holmes | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he will not participate in the first Republican primary debate this week. A Trump adviser told CNN that the former president could still decide to participate in a later primary debate, despite his post. Wednesday’s primary debate is the first of the 2024 cycle. “I’m still holding out hope that President Trump will come. Fox News president Jay Wallace and the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, had also encouraged Trump to participate in the debate.

Persons: Donald Trump, “, ” Trump, Trump, Fred Ryan, Ryan, Trump’s, Tucker Carlson, Ronna McDaniel, “ I’m, ” McDaniel, McDaniel, David Bossie, noncommittal, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie Organizations: Washington CNN, CNN, Reagan Library, Washington Post, Fox News, Republican, Trump, Florida Gov, South Carolina Gov, North Dakota Gov, Arkansas Gov, New, New Jersey Gov Locations: Bedminster , New Jersey, Florida, South, New Jersey

☆ Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s reputation takes hit after text messages reveal what he said in wake of 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Bret Baier’s standing as a “fair and balanced” newsman is being called into question like never before. The Fox News chief political anchor has long enjoyed a strong reputation in Washington circles and among viewers, anchoring major news events for the network and moderating presidential debates. That reputation, however, has been ruptured in recent months by the release of leaked private text messages sent in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, casting the “Special Report” anchor in a dramatically different light. “We need to do something to reassure our core audience,” Carlson wrote Baier in the wake of the Arizona call, according to The Beast. The revelations about Baier are especially noteworthy given that he is the face of Fox News’ so-called “straight news” division.

☆ Tucker Carlson's texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Private texts reveal incredible detail about Fox News' inner workings. Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

☆ 16 takeaways from Fox News' historic $787.5 million settlement with Dominion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

In the moments after I watched the judge announce the settlement in court, 16 things went through my mind:1. Evidence obtained by Dominion in the lawsuit and filed to court ahead of the settlement appeared to support that theory. There's always the Smartmatic case. In court filings ahead of the settlement, Fox complained about the $1.6 billion price tag Dominion put on the lawsuit. "Would be pretty unreal if you guys like 20x'ed your Dominion investment with these lawsuits," read one text to a Staple Street executive cited in a Fox court filing.

Members of the public wait to enter the Leonard Williams Justice Center where the Dominion Voting Systems defamation trial against FOX News is taking place on April 18 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)The court is back in session after a lunch break and opening statements are expected to begin soon in the historic defamation lawsuit brought by election technology company Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News. Here’s what you need to know about the high-stakes case:Why is Dominion suing Fox News? The company alleges that people at Fox News acted with actual malice and "recklessly disregarded the truth" when they spread this disinformation about Dominion. According to Dominion’s theory of the case, Fox promoted these election conspiracy theories because "the lies were good for Fox’s business."

☆ Dominion wasn't here to save democracy — it just wanted money from Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Fox News detractors wanted Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News to move forward for democracy's sake. "PLEASE Dominion --- Do not settle with Fox! The election technology company filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, and asked for $1.6 billion. But just because Fox settled Dominion's lawsuit doesn't mean it's now free of legal risk. "Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy."

☆ What to know ahead of the Fox News and Dominion trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —A trial in a defamation suit brought against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems is set to begin this week. Here are 5 things to know ahead of the trial. Fox was trying to block Dominion from having the Murdochs on the witness stand. Fox Corporation, the right-wing news outlet’s owner, has an estimated $4 billion in cash on hand, according to its latest earnings statement. Though major figures at Fox privately acknowledged reality – that former President Donald Trump had lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 – Fox continued to air conspiracies and lies in order to keep its large audience engaged.

CNN —Fox News said in a court filing Tuesday that it plans to put some of its most prominent executives and TV hosts on the witness stand to testify as part of its defense in the Dominion defamation trial. Fox will call these witnesses as part of their defense, but Dominion also wants to question them as part of their case. The list includes Fox TV hosts Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, Sean Hannity, and Bret Baier, as well as Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace. Last week, a Delaware judge ruled that Dominion Voting Systems’ case against Fox News will go to jury trial in mid-April. Both Fox News and Dominion had previously asked the judge to declare them the outright winner without a trial.

Fox News, however, did suggest it wants to put Scott, Wallace, Hannity, Carlson, Bartiromo, and Baier on the stand as witnesses. But in past court filings, Fox News has highlighted the fact that Baier said on-air shortly after the 2020 election that there weren’t indications of widespread fraud. Both Fox News and Dominion asked Davis in court this week to declare them the outright winner without a trial. Fox News has argued that it can’t be held liable for airing inherently newsworthy allegations from public figures that Dominion rigged the 2020 election, even if those claims were false. Fox Corporation has argued that Dominion overstated its role in Fox News’ editorial coverage of the 2020 election and asked to be dropped from the lawsuit – but the judge let the case move forward.

☆ Texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Dominion captured a number of texts that show Fox employees' apprehension about the growing conspiracy claims about the company's voting machines in the wake of the election. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

☆ Text message shows Fox News president refused to air Nevada election results because it would have sealed Biden's victory, The New York Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fox News was heavily criticized by its viewers after it called Arizona for Biden in 2020. After the immediate backlash, Fox News President Jay Wallace was reluctant to call Nevada, per NYT. Nevada's election result would have made Joe Biden's victory all but certain. The network's election team was prepared to call Nevada on November 6, NYT reported, which would have all but cemented Biden's victory. But in a text message reviewed by the Times, Wallace, who has been the network president since 2018, refused to air the result.

☆ Fair and Balanced? Murdoch’s private messages show Fox News was instructed to help Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But a deposition and private messages made public in recent weeks has exposed that even Rupert Murdoch doesn’t treat Fox News like an actual news organization. But at Fox News, that’s not the case. It’s just striking to hear Fox leadership like Ryan talk openly behind the scenes about what the company is at its core. Fox News has accused Dominion of having “cherry picked” statements to unfairly malign the network. But it’s hard to see how, under any circumstances, these instructions to a supposed network news chief would be appropriate.

☆ The 10 biggest revelations from Dominion’s explosive Fox News legal filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Murdoch rejected that Fox News, as an entity, endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. They endorsed,” Murdoch said, according to the filing, when asked about the hosts’ promotion of false claims about the election. ► Behind the scenes, Paul Ryan repeatedly warned the Murdochs to stop allowing the spread of election lies. “Maybe best to let Bill go right away,” which would “be a big message with Trump people” the filing said. These documents reveal that Fox News executives and hosts knew the truth and yet they peddled election lies to the audience.

☆ Fox News exec said 'the North Koreans do a more nuanced show' than the now-fired host Lou Dobbs: lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fox News president Jay Wallace said North Korean propaganda has more nuance than Lou Dobbs. Wallace's comments about Dobbs were cited in a court filing by Dominion Voting Systems. Wallace said in September 2020 that "the North Koreans do a more nuanced show" than Dobbs, per a filing from Dominion Voting Systems released on Thursday. This filing was part of Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion Voting Systems has alleged that Fox defamed it by pushing a false conspiracy theory that it manipulated election results.

☆ Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity discussed wanting a Fox News reporter fired after she pushed back on Trump's election lies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity discussed trying to have a Fox reporter fired for a fact-checking tweet. The Fox News commentators took issue with the reporter's rejection of Trump's 2020 election lies. A new court filing in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit again Fox includes troves of text messages. Carlson and Hannity apparently did not take kindly to her public rejection of Trump's messaging. Hannity responded saying he had already sent Heinrich's tweet to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott with a "really?"

☆ Analysis: Fox News has been exposed as a dishonest organization terrified of its own audience
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Trump was enraged that Fox News was the first network to call the critical swing state of Arizona for now-president Joe Biden. In the days and weeks after the presidential contest had been called, Fox News’ audience listened to Trump and rebelled against the channel. Behind the scenes, Fox News executives and hosts were in panic. Did I mention Cavuto?”The fear that Fox News’ audience would abandon it for good also appeared to drive programming decisions. When Lindell appeared on Newsmax and criticized Fox News, executives at Fox News “exchanged worried emails about alienating him,” the legal filing said.

REUTERS/Mike BlakeDec 13 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) Chairman Rupert Murdoch is set to be questioned under oath on Tuesday in a defamation lawsuit over his network’s coverage of unfounded vote-rigging claims during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The deposition comes as special committees of the boards of directors for News Corp (NWSA.O) and Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp consider a proposal from Murdoch to re-combine, nearly a decade after the companies split. Murdoch will be questioned via videoconference on Tuesday and Wednesday by lawyers for Dominion, according to a filing in Delaware Superior Court. On Dec. 5, Murdoch’s eldest son and executive chair and CEO of Fox Corp (FOXA.O), Lachlan, sat for a deposition in Los Angeles. Murdoch’s other son, James Murdoch, was questioned in October.

☆ Bret Baier wanted to rescind Fox News' decision to call Arizona for Biden in 2020 and wrote in an email, 'The Trump campaign was really pissed,' book says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fox News anchor Bret Baier "was ready to give into" pressure from Trump after the network said he lost Arizona, new book says. "'The sooner we pull it...and we put it back in his column the better we are,'" he wrote, according to the book. "'The Trump campaign was really pissed,' he wrote in an email to Jay Wallace, the president and executive editor at Fox," according to the book set for publication on Tuesday. "'It's hurting us,'" he wrote, according to the book. The spokesperson noted that Arnon Mishkin, the head of the Decision Desk who was in charge at the time of the Arizona call, is returning for the November elections as Decision Desk head.

☆ Fox News' Bret Baier responds to book's report that he wanted to rescind his network's Arizona call in 2020: 'I never said the Trump campaign 'was really pissed''
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The book "The Divider" recounts Bret Baier pushing Fox to rescind its decision to call Arizona for Biden. Baier tells Insider the "full context" of his email was not reported in the book. The authors stand by their book and note that his statement doesn't deny the accuracy of the email they reported. "In addition, it's especially notable that Baier wrote in the email that it would be better for Fox News 'to put it [Arizona] back in [Trump's] column,'" she wrote. I never said the Trump campaign 'was really pissed' – that was from an external email that I referenced within my note.

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