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The hundreds of pages of new documents include previously unreleased excerpts from key depositions, including Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, and are part of Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The transcript was part of a trove of text messages, emails, and other material from Fox News executives and on-air personalities that were made public Tuesday as part of Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the right-wing channel. “Do you believe that Dominion was engaged in a massive and coordinated effort to steal the 2020 presidential election?” Murdoch was asked by Dominion lawyers. The hundreds of pages of new documents that came out Tuesday include previously unreleased excerpts from key depositions, including Murdoch, and are part of Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Fox News has not only vigorously denied the claims, it has insisted it is “proud” of its 2020 election coverage.

☆ Rupert Murdoch testified that Fox News hosts lied about the 2020 election. Here's why it wasn't a misstep.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rupert Murdoch admitted Fox News hosts endorsed falsehoods about the 2020 election. Murdoch chairs Fox Corporation, which argues it isn't responsible for claims made on subsidiary Fox News. Here was the chair of Fox Corporation, a 91-year-old mogul atop a conservative media empire, admitting to lies that damaged democracy. When asked by Dominion's lawyers in a January deposition whether he thought Fox hosts were truthful about the election, Murdoch was candid. Fox Corporation also manages subsidiaries like Fox Sports, a large number of local TV stations, TMZ, Tubi, and a blockchain company.

☆ Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +23 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024For a good long time during the George W. Bush and Obama presidencies, Paul Ryan was considered one of the intellectual leaders and shining stars of the Republican Party. Get out of this race.” But I don’t think Trump is going to get the nomination. I don’t think we want the lack of liberty that comes with government-made equality. Where I part company with the left is I don’t believe in socialism. I don’t believe in equality of outcomes.

☆ Rupert Murdoch could face FEC fines if he tipped off Jared Kushner about Biden's presidential ads before they aired
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Madison Hall | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Dominion claims Rupert Murdoch shared info about Biden ads with Trump's campaign in 2020. "During Trump's campaign, Rupert provided Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden's ads, along with debate strategy (providing Kushner a preview of Biden's ads before they were public)," Dominion's lawyers alleged in the filing. "If the allegations are true, this is precisely what Murdoch provided to the Trump campaign," he said. After Trump lost, Murdoch shifted attention to two runoff elections in Georgia for US Senate seats. "My friend Jared Kushner called me saying, 'This is terrible,' Murdoch wrote.

☆ Paul Ryan didn't hesitate to blame Tucker Carlson when asked about the 'toxic sludge' and 'disinformation' on Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Paul Ryan blamed Tucker Carlson for pushing toxic and racist content on Fox News. Ryan was asked why he, as a Fox board member, did not stand up to people spreading disinformation. During the interview, Sykes asked Ryan why he did not stand up to people at Fox News who pushed "toxic sludge, racism, disinformation, and attacks on democracy." "Donald Trump, sitting down at Mar-a-Lago, is convinced that you are pulling the strings at Fox News," Sykes said. Representatives for Ryan and Carlson at Fox did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ 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.

☆ Fox News election fraud revelations could take down the network’s embattled chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Who will Rupert Murdoch exile from the Fox kingdom? The stunning levels of misconduct exposed in recent weeks raise questions about the future of Suzanne Scott, the embattled chief executive of Fox News. “They’re leading a trail of crumbs that lead back to her office,” added David Folkenflik, the NPR media correspondent and Murdoch biographer. In each case, Murdoch made the decision to sever ties with top personnel. “They should be reprimanded, maybe got rid of.”As Folkenflik noted, “If you’re Rupert, you can’t fire Rupert.

☆ Paul Ryan grilled for remaining on Fox board of directors amid election fraud revelations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Former House Speaker Paul Ryan was grilled Tuesday over his decision to remain on the board of directors of Fox News’ parent company after damning court documents showed that the right-wing network knowingly peddled election lies to its audience. I have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective and I do that, but I don’t go on TV and do it, right. So I offer my perspective, my opinion, often,” Ryan replied. Instead, Ryan said, “I want to see the conservative movement get through this moment. And I think Fox is a big part of the constellation of the conservative movement.”“Is it the solution or the problem?” Sykes asked.

☆ Schumer, Jeffries pressure Murdoch, Fox News over Trump's false election fraud claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Trump has repeatedly spread false claims that the election was stolen from him. Earlier this week, Dominion filed court papers that revealed parts of the testimony from Murdoch and other top Fox Corp leadership. In his deposition, Murdoch acknowledged that some of Fox's top TV hosts endorsed false election fraud claims. When Murdoch was asked if he was "now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election," Murdoch responded, "Not Fox, no. Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election.

☆ Fox executives should be fired for ‘proven misconduct’ exposed in Dominion lawsuit, renowned Yale professor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —The Fox Corporation board has a huge mess on its hands — and it needs to work quickly to clean it up. That’s according to Jeffrey A Sonnenfeld, the renowned professor and senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management. The former House speaker said that Fox News should “move on from Donald Trump” and “stop spouting election lies.”But Sonnenfeld said Ryan’s actions were not enough. In fact, he said Ryan’s “quiet dissent” was “cowardly, ineffective, and immoral,” and pointed out that board members have certain responsibilities under corporate governance law in Delaware, where Fox is incorporated. Fox News has previously said it was “proud” of its 2020 election coverage, which is a statement that only grows more remarkable by the day.

☆ Rupert Murdoch said Sean Hannity was 'privately disgusted' by Donald Trump for weeks after the election: court filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rupert Murdoch said in a January 2021 email to Paul Ryan that Sean Hannity was "disgusted" by Trump. Murdoch added in his email that Hannity was "scared to lose viewers" despite his distaste for Trump. Murdoch said to Ryan that Hannity also needed a "wake-up call" after the Capitol riot. Segments of emails Murdoch sent in 2021 were published on Monday in a court filing from Dominion Voting Systems. Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers," Rupert Murdoch wrote in response to Ryan.

☆ Rupert Murdoch admits Fox News hosts 'endorsed' election lies and wanted to make Trump a 'non-person' after January 6 riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rupert Murdoch conceded in a deposition that Fox News hosts pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election. Fox Corporation, which Murdoch leads, argues it isn't liable in Dominion's lawsuit anyway. At the same time, Murdoch denied that Fox Corporation itself endorsed these false claims. Dominion sued Fox News Network along with its parent company, Fox Corporation, in March 2021, also including Bartiromo, Pirro, and Dobbs as defendants. According to the filing, Rupert Murdoch said in his deposition he took care to strike a tone that wouldn't antagonize Trump.

☆ Fox faces an ‘existential threat’ from its multi-billion-dollar defamation cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that he made a business decision when allowing a conspiracy theorist to promote election lies on Fox News. The network faces two separate defamation lawsuits from voting technology companies that collectively seek $4.3 billion in damages. Cases against FoxDominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News and Fox Corporation for $1.6 billion, accusing the network of spreading false claims that its technology enabled election fraud. A separate, similar case brought by voting technology firm Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages. It also illustrated instances of Fox actively pushing back on fact-checks that undermined the election lies being peddled by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

☆ 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.

☆ Top Fox News anchor says the company has banned coverage of the Dominion lawsuit that revealed how Tucker Carlson and other Fox stars privately dismissed election conspiracy theories while peddling th
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Internal messages show how Fox News anchors privately mocked 2020 election conspiracy theories. Dominion, an elections technology company, filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News in March 2021, accusing the media company of spreading conspiracy theories that claimed Dominion helped rig the 2020 election results. "It's dangerously insane these conspiracy theories," Fox reporter Lucas Tomlinson said to Bret Baier, host of Special Report. A search through FoxNews.com turns up zero recent stories regarding the Dominion lawsuit. "That is an actual threat to democracy and it points up the core problem which is we're not really very serious about democracy if we're using electronic voting machines," Carlson said.

☆ Exclusive: Irenic Capital urges Theravance to conduct review, add shareholder to board
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Activist investor Irenic Capital Management is urging Theravance Biopharma Inc (TBPH.O) to initiate a review of strategic alternatives, including a full sale, and to add a shareholder to its board, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Irenic owns a 4.2% stake in the biotechnology company and has criticized its lagging valuation and stock-based compensation to its chief executive and board chair, Rick Winningham. Irenic also called on Theravance to use excess cash to immediately issue a $300 million special dividend to shareholders. They suggested Dodge as a director candidate but wrote in the letter that the company rejected him as a candidate. Irenic is the latest hedge fund to propose changes at poorly performing biotech companies.

☆ Rupert Murdoch says some Fox News anchors 'endorsed' false election fraud claims in Dominion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors of the company's TV networks parroted false fraud claims in the months following the 2020 election, according to new court papers out Monday. In new filings as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Murdoch said he doubted the election fraud claims being aired on Fox News and Fox Business Network. Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox's TV hosts endorsed the false election fraud claims. In unveiled question and answers from Murdoch's deposition, when Murdoch was asked if he was "now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election," Murdoch responded, "Not Fox, no. Dominion sued Fox and its right-wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election.

☆ Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that Fox News hosts endorsed false stolen election claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —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’s remarks were made public in a legal filing as part of Dominion’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News. In his deposition, Murdoch rejected that the right-wing talk network as an entity endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. “Some of our commentators were endorsing it,,” Murdoch said, according to the filing, when asked about the talk hosts’ on-air positions about the election. Top legal experts told CNN after last week’s filing that Dominion’s legal position appeared strong.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged under oath that some Fox hosts "endorsed" the notion that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen, according to a court filing unsealed Monday. Documents in the case in Delaware state court show Murdoch and other Fox executives believed Joe Biden fairly beat Donald Trump and that the results were not in doubt. Asked by a Dominion lawyer if some of Fox’s commentators had endorsed the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, Murdoch responded, “Yes. Dominion claims in its filing that Murdoch closely monitored Fox coverage but declined to wield his powerful editorial influence despite strong concerns about Fox's coverage. Murdoch testified that he believed early on that "everything was on the up-and-up" with the election, and that he doubted claims of election fraud from the very beginning.

In a text message with his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, Mr. Carlson appeared livid that viewers were turning against the network. On Nov. 7, 2020, Mr. Carlson told Mr. Pfeiffer that claims about manipulated software were “absurd.” Mr. Pfeiffer replied later that there was not enough evidence of fraud to swing the election. A video of Carlson from “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Said publicly on Nov. 19, 2020 Carlson: “We did not dismiss any of it. It aired on the programs hosted by Mr. Dobbs, Ms. Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. On Feb. 5, 2021, one day after Smartmatic filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox, Fox Business canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” At the time, Fox said it regularly reviewed its lineup.

☆ ‘It’s a major blow’: Dominion has uncovered ‘smoking gun’ evidence in case against Fox News, legal experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

While the legal experts cautioned that they would like to see Fox News’ formal legal response to the filing, they all indicated in no uncertain terms that the evidence compiled in Dominion’s legal filing represents a serious threat to the channel. On one occasion, Carlson demanded that Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich be fired after she fact-checked a Trump tweet pushing election fraud claims. Tushnet said that in all of her years practicing and teaching law, she had never seen such damning evidence collected in the pre-trial phase of a defamation suit. “Donald Trump seems to be very good at generating unprecedented 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. “Their motion for summary judgment takes an extreme and unsupported view of defamation law and rests on an accounting of the facts that has no basis in the record.”But the attorneys said Dominion’s filing showed it had built a powerful case against Fox.

The documents were publicly released for the first time this week as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp and its cable TV networks. Dominion, Fox Corp and Fox News filed their motions for summary judgment this week, which unveiled evidence from months of discovery and depositions that had been private until this point. Fox News anchors, as well as top Fox Corp brass including Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, were questioned in recent months. In court papers Thursday, Fox Corp said it had "no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements – all of which aired on either Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel." But he's not going to destroy us," court papers show.

☆ Rupert Murdoch suggested Fox News hosts Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham go on air and say Joe Biden had won 2020 election, court filing says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rupert Murdoch suggested three Fox News hosts could go on air and declare Biden the winner in 2020. The lengthy filing makes revelations about the inner workings of the Fox News network following the 2020 election. Murdoch privately described the election fraud claims as "damaging" and "crazy," according to the filing. However, the relationship fractured over the years, and in 2020 Fox News was the first network to call Arizona in favor of Biden, infuriating Trump. Fox News has previously denied the charges and said that it reported fairly on the election and its aftermath.

☆ Fox News Hosts, Executives Raised Concerns About 2020 Election-Fraud Claims Made on the Air, Filing Shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Keach Hagey | Erin Mulvaney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Top Fox News anchors and executives privately raised concerns about false claims of voter fraud made on the air by network hosts and guests following the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing made public Thursday. The communications, which included text messages and depositions, appeared in a motion for summary judgment by voting-machine company Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox News and Fox Corp. for what it alleges were defamatory on-air comments about its products in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s defeat to President Joe Biden. It is seeking $1.6 billion in damages.

☆ Fox News hosts and executives privately mocked pro-Trump election conspiracy theories after he lost, internal texts show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

It enrages me," Tucker Carlson wrote in a text message to his producer Alex Pfeiffer. "Not a single Fox witness testified that they believe any of the allegations about Dominion are true," Dominion lawyers wrote. Imho they need to address but wtf do I know," Hannity wrote in a text message, referring to Newsmax. That email, Dominion's lawyers write, came from an unnamed author who claimed to be a beheaded ghost who talks to the wind. President Trump not only was the sitting President, he was the key figure that day," Dominion's lawyers wrote.

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