Don’t confuse Fox with facts | Editorial
The network places profits and ratings above truth and democracy, depositions taken in a defamation suit show.
Fox News has long been a propaganda organization masquerading as a news outlet. But a $1.6 billion defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems has more fully exposed the network’s ethical rot.
Dominion’s 443-page suit alleges Fox News knowingly spread false information about its voting machines to boost ratings and profits, following viewer backlash after the cable network declared Democrat Joe Biden had won Arizona on election night 2020 — a move that infuriated Donald Trump and his supporters.
For weeks, Trump and his minions claimed the election was stolen. The many lies included the bizarre claim that Dominion and a software company allegedly created by former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and funded by George Soros had flipped votes to Biden.
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Depositions taken by Dominion exposed Fox’s duplicity. Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and others at the company knew Trump’s election claims were false, but broadcast them anyway. Murdoch testified he could have stopped Fox from broadcasting the lies from disgraced Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, “but I didn’t.”
Sean Hannity admitted under oath he didn’t believe Powell “for one second.” Yet Hannity let Powell peddle her bogus claims on his show.
Off camera, talking heads at Fox mocked Powell.
“Sidney Powell is lying,” Tucker Carlson texted Laura Ingraham. She replied: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy.”
Those who failed to toe the public party line came under fire. After anchor Neil Cavuto cut away from a White House press briefing because of the false claims, a Fox executive called him a “brand threat.”
When a Fox reporter tweeted no evidence of fraud was found at Dominion, Carlson texted Hannity and Ingraham, “Please get her fired.” Carlson added: “It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down.”
Fox hosts continued to endorse the stolen election claims in the run-up to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sadly, this is not a surprise, since peddling misinformation is not new at Fox News. During the pandemic, the network spread falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccinations.
Carlson, in turn, spins off-the-wall narratives about IRS armies, food shortages, and predatory trans activities. He routinely stokes racial tensions by airing what the New York Times called “what may be the most racist show in the history of cable news.” Carlson likewise sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his bloody invasion of Ukraine.
Anything that gets ratings and political meddling is part of the Murdoch MO — one that rarely results in accountability. A phone hacking scandal in 2011 forced the media mogul to close the News of the World, his largest-selling newspaper in Great Britain. Still, Murdoch’s media properties backed Brexit at the risk of destabilizing Europe.
The Dominion suit has also exposed Fox’s close connection to the Republican Party.
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During the 2020 campaign, Murdoch allegedly “provided Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden’s ads, along with debate strategy.”
Fox’s GOP ties go way back. Roger Ailes, the disgraced former head of Fox News, worked for Richard Nixon. Ailes and Nixon discussed creating a TV network in 1970 to provide “pro-administration” coverage. Nixon loved the idea of a network that would provide “our own news” and lead “a brutal vicious attack on the opposition.”
Ailes’ plan didn’t come together until Murdoch hired him to create Fox News in 1996. Ailes built Fox into the top-rated cable news network with a mix of flashy graphics, an abundance of blonde female broadcasters, and programming that tapped into anger and fear. In yet another scandal, Ailes was ousted in 2016 following a barrage of sexual harassment lawsuits that cost Fox $50 million.
But the Fox propaganda machine pushed on. The legal system will determine if the Dominion suit inflicts more financial pain on the network. But even with its credibility in tatters, real accountability will not come until viewers and advertisers wake up to the dangers of Fox.