While Fox News guests and hosts praised former President Trump’s false claims that voter fraud led to his defeat in the 2020 election, network executive Rupert Murdoch didn’t believe a word of it.
Testimony released Tuesday revealed that Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corp., did not believe any of the theories put forward by Trump’s lawyers and representatives on his conservative news network.
Fox News is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit alleging that the network deliberately lied about allegations of fraud to boost its ratings. Murdoch was removed from the case on January 19.
A transcript revealed that when Murdoch was asked by Justin Nelson, one of Dominion’s attorneys, if “the 2020 election wasn’t free and fair,” the tycoon’s answer was “no.”
“Do you think Joe Biden was legitimately elected president of the United States?” asked Nelson.
Murdoch said yes.
“It is wrong that President Trump stole the election; correct?”
“It wasn’t stolen,” Murdoch replied.
“Do you think President Trump was a big loser?”
“Yes,” Murdoch replied.
Murdoch gave the same negative answer when asked about the various allegations against Dominion by guests and hosts appearing on Fox News.
Dominion has been falsely accused by Trump’s team of using his vote-rigging machines to throw the election at Joe Biden. Trump officials have also said without evidence that the Denver-based voting device maker is controlled by the Venezuelan government.
Fox News claims its reporting and commentary is protected by the First Amendment because claims made by a sitting president are newsworthy even if they are false.
Dominion must prove in a Delaware court that Fox News acted willfully by recklessly ignoring the truth in reporting Trump’s claims and the false allegations against Dominion.
Dominion’s motion for summary judgment – citing testimony and internal communications at Fox News – notes how executives, producers and hosts have expressed concern over what Trump-supporting guests and hosts such as Maria Bartiromo, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and the former Fox Business network anchor. Lou Dobbs said of the false accusations.
Murdoch acknowledged in his statement that Dobbs, Bartiromo and other hosts fueled the baseless allegations against Dominion.
Many called statements by Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani “insane” and “insane.”
But they continued to appear on the network to spread untruths in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, when Trump supporters tried to stop the vote count.
Murdoch acknowledged in his statements that he had the power to prevent Giuliani and Powell from appearing on Fox News, but he chose not to. Murdoch said he was careful not to anger Trump-supporting Fox News viewers who were upset about the election results. Fox News was the first station to call Arizona on election night for Joe Biden.
Trump “had a very large following and it was probably mostly Fox viewers, so it would have been silly,” Murdoch said in his statement.
A jury trial is scheduled for April 17.
Source: LA Times
Andrew Dwight is an author and economy journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for analyzing economic trends and news. With a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts into easily understandable terms, Andrew has become a respected voice in the field of economics journalism.
