Members of Rise and Resist take part in their weekly “Truth Tuesday” protest at News Corp headquarters on February 21, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some presenters on the company’s television networks repeated false allegations of fraud in the months following the 2020 election, according to new court documents released Monday.
In new filings in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Murdoch said he doubted the voter fraud allegations aired on Fox News and Fox Business Network.
Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox television hosts endorsed the bogus claims of voter fraud. In the leaked Q&A of Murdoch’s deposition, when Murdoch was asked if he was “now aware that Fox sometimes endorses this false notion of a stolen election”, Murdoch replied, “Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria [Bartiromo] as commentators.”
“Some of our commentators approved of it,” Murdoch said in his responses to the deposition. “They approved.”
Dominion sued Fox and its right-wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing that the networks and its personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the 2020 election results. Fox News has always denied having knowingly made false statements about the election and said that “the heart of this matter remains freedom of the press and freedom of expression”.
In earlier court documents, Fox said the last year of discovery showed the company had “no role in creating and publishing the disputed statements — all of which aired on Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel. “.
Murdoch and his son, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Fox legal and policy director Viet Dinh, have been questioned in connection with the lawsuit in recent months. Earlier in February, court documents were released that showed snippets of evidence Dominion gathered during the months-long discovery and deposition process, which also included Fox TV personalities.
Text messages and testimony showed that Fox executives and Fox TV anchors were skeptical of claims that the election between Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, was rigged.
Dominion said in court documents filed Monday that Fox’s defense that the statements made were opinion “is not going anywhere.”
“While some statements by Fox hosts could be characterized as ‘opinions’, they are still actionable if, as here, they are based on false or undisclosed facts,” Dominion said.
A representative for Fox News reiterated in a statement Monday that Dominion misinterpreted the facts in choosing soundbites: “When Dominion doesn’t misrepresent the law, it misrepresents the facts.”
Fox also targeted Dominion’s private equity owner in court papers over Dominion’s $1.6 billion claim in damages, saying the company ‘paid a small fraction of that amount’ to buy Dominion. Fox also said in court papers that the $1.6 billion figure had no connection to Dominion’s financial worth.
“Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will make headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by the fact that they are now forced to reduce their fanciful claim for damages- interests of more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked his implausible claims,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “Their motion for summary judgment took an extreme view and unsubstantiated libel law that would prevent journalists from doing basic reporting and their efforts to publicly defame FOX for covering and commenting on allegations of a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what they are: a flagrant violation of the First Amendment.”
A Dominion spokesman said Monday, “The claim for damages remains. As Fox well knows, our damages exceed $1.6 billion.”
Dominion sued not just the television networks, but parent company Fox Corp., arguing that the parent company and its top executives played a role in spreading false information about voter fraud by Fox personalities. A Delaware judge had ruled that Dominion’s case could be expanded beyond the networks to include Fox Corp.
Court documents from Monday show that Murdoch and other Fox executives remained closed to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott during election coverage.
“I’m a journalist at heart. I like being involved in these things,” Murdoch said during his deposition, according to court documents.
‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host Tucker Carlson poses for photos at a Fox News Channel studio in New York City.
Richard Drew | PA
Earlier court documents showed high-profile presenters including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham expressed disbelief in Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump lawyer who aggressively promoted voter fraud allegations, at the ‘era.
Paul Ryan, the former Republican House speaker and Fox board member, was also questioned in connection with the lawsuit. Court documents released on Monday show Ryan saying “these conspiracy theories are baseless” and that the network “should make every effort to dispel conspiracy theories if and when they come to light.”
Ryan also told Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch “that Fox News should not air conspiracy theories,” according to the filings.
Dominion alleges Fox News anchors felt public pressure and were linked to rival right-wing networks like Newsmax, fueling allegations of on-air fraud.
The court documents also showed other insights into the network’s internal response to the events of January 6, 2021, the day a violent mob breached the US Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump.
Fox executives ended Trump’s attempt to appear on the network that night, after calling on-air personality Lou Dobbs’ show in the afternoon, documents show. judicial.
That same night, Carlson texted his producer calling Trump “a demonic force. A destroyer. But he’s not going to destroy us,” referring to the Fox network and its audience, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, the day before Jan. 6, court documents showed, Murdoch told Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, “it was suggested that our three primetime hours should independently or together say something like ‘the elections are over and Joe Biden has won “.”
The lawsuit is being watched closely by First Amendment watchdogs and pundits. Libel suits usually focus on a single lie, but in this case, Dominion cites a long list of examples of Fox TV hosts making false statements even after they’ve been proven false. Media companies are often heavily protected by the First Amendment.
A status conference in the case is scheduled for next week and the trial is expected to begin in mid-April.
