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☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ A tally of the times Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham privately trashed Rudy Giuliani in the wake of the 2020 election even as Fox News continued to have him on their shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dominion's lawsuit revealed comments Fox News hosts and execs made about Rudy Giuliani in 2020. Dominion is suing Fox for defamation related to unfounded election fraud claims about the company. Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch, the founder and chairman of Fox News, made several claims disparaging Giuliani and doubting the veracity of his claims. Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesSean HannityOn November 11, 2020, Fox News host Sean Hannity said, "Rudy is acting like an insane person," according to the court documents. Laura IngrahamOn January 12, 2021, Fox News Host Laura Ingraham said, "Rudy is such an idiot," the documents said.

☆ Rupert Murdoch said Fox News continued airing Mike Lindell's ads even after his voter fraud rants because of how much 'green' Lindell provided for the network: court filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Hannah Getahun | Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dominion Voting Systems' new court filing details how important Mike Lindell was to Fox News. Murdoch went on to admit in his deposition that he could have pulled Lindell's MyPillow advertisements — but did not. "Ever since Smartmatic sued Fox News, no one in this country can go on any conservative stations and talk about the election," Lindell told Insider. A Dominion Voting Systems spokesperson told Insider: "Dominion is a strong believer in the First Amendment and its protections. In February, Lindell told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that he has spent more than $40 million pushing Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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 gave Jared Kushner 'confidential information' about Biden's 2020 ads before they were public, Dominion alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Azmi Haroun | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dominion Voting Systems made new claims about Fox News' workings around the 2020 election. In its defamation suit against Fox, Dominion claimed that Rupert Murdoch shared confidential info. Jared Kushner was provided early access to Biden's 2020 election ads, per the filing. "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 wrote in the filing. And in the company's lawsuit, Dominion claimed that Fox News "sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process."

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.

☆ Trump tried to call in to Fox News as the Capitol riot unfolded but the network refused to put him on air, new filing claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump tried to call into Fox News as the Capitol riot unfolded, a court filing claims. Network executives refused to put him on air as they thought it would be "irresponsible." But Fox executives vetoed that decision. President Trump not only was the sitting president, he was the key figure that day." The lengthy court filing also cites text messages between Fox News hosts and executives in which they privately mocked pro-Trump election fraud conspiracy theories, despite continuing to air them.

☆ Tucker Carlson called Trump a 'demonic force' in a text on January 6, filing reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tucker Carlson called Donald Trump a "demonic force" in a text to his producer on January 6. Fox hosts privately accepted Trump's election loss but continued to air conspiracy theories, texts show. Lindell spouted election fraud theories on air after voicing them for Carlson's staff in a pre-interview. In another text exchange, Carlson spoke critically of pro-Trump guests who promoted election fraud conspiracy theories on Fox News. In separate texts, he told Pfieffer and Laura Ingraham that Sidney Powell, the pro-Trump lawyer who championed outlandish election fraud conspiracy theories, was "a fucking nutcase" and "lying."

☆ 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.

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.

☆ 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.

☆ Sidney Powell cited woman who claimed to be headless, time-traveling entity in email pushing election conspiracy theories
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A court filing cited a wild email Sidney Powell sent to Fox to support her claims of voter fraud. Powell used it as proof of her voter fraud claims before a Fox appearance, Dominion argues. Dominion said that Powell forwarded the email to Fox personality Maria Bartiromo in November 2020, and informed Bartiromo that she'd received "evidence" about voter fraud. The lawyers for Dominion did not name the writer of the email, which had the subject "Election Fraud Info." The company is asking for $1.3 billion in damages, alleging that the trio pushed a slew of baseless voter fraud claims that hurt its business.

☆ Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham privately called Rudy Giuliani 'an insane person' and an 'idiot'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Top Fox News commentators skewered Rudy Giuliani in private text messages after the 2020 election. Laura Ingraham called him an "idiot" and Sean Hannity said he and his allies were "f'ing lunatics." Chief among them was former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spearheaded President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the results of the election. In one text, sent on November 11, 2020, Hannity wrote that "Rudy is acting like an insane person." He's in the midst of bar disciplinary proceedings and is in danger of losing his law license because of his false claims about the 2020 election.

☆ 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?"

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion. Internal documents show the tech company is only worth $80 million at most, Fox says.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion, alleging it helped spread election conspiracy theories. "Even under the most optimistic projections," they wrote, Staple Street did not forecast Dominion would be worth "anywhere near $1.6 billion." "At no time did Staple Street so much as hint to its investors, auditors, or anyone else that Dominion could be worth $1.6 billion," they wrote. "Yet, when Dominion decided to file a lawsuit to punish FNN for reporting the President's allegations about Dominion, Dominion chose to claim that Dominion's value was 20 times their highest estimate." The $1.6 billion lawsuit, Fox News argues, will have a chilling effect on media outlets everywhere.

☆ Fox News producer said Laura Ingraham's interest in false Dominion voter fraud claims 'is going to give me a fucking aneurysm'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a text message, a Fox News producer complained about Laura Ingraham promoting election conspiracy theories. "This dominion shit is going to give me a fucking aneurysm," Tommy Firth texted a Fox News colleague. The message was revealed in a court filing from Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox for defamation. "This is the Bill Gates/microchip angle to voter fraud," Mitchell responded. Numerous audits and investigations have failed to uncover any evidence of mass voter fraud in any state.

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