Private messages reveal Fox News hosts expressed skepticism about election fraud claims in private conversations
According to private messages obtained by Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News hosts, producers, and executives had private conversations expressing skepticism about the unfounded narrative rapidly gaining momentum among their core audience: that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats through widespread voter fraud. This belief was promoted by then-President Trump and a coalition of lawyers, lawmakers, and influencers, though they produced no evidence to support their assertions. Many hosts, producers, and executives privately expressed skepticism about those claims, even as they gave them significant airtime, according to the messages. What they said in those messages often differed significantly from what Fox hosts said in public, though they weren’t always contradictory. In light of the recent indictment charges against Trump, the lawsuit bears weightier implications for the News channel.
Two days after the election, Fox News viewers were abandoning the network for Newsmax and One America News, two conservative rivals, after Fox declared that Joseph R. Biden Jr. won Arizona, a crucial swing state. Tucker Carlson, in a text message with his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, appeared livid that viewers were turning against the network. The message was among those released as part of a lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox. Dominion, an elections technology company, has sued Fox News for defamation.
The private conversations pose a serious legal threat to the nation’s most-watched cable news network. Dominion has obtained thousands of emails and text messages from Fox employees as part of its $1.6 billion suit. The messages, taken as a whole, are at the core of Dominion’s case. If a jury looks at the messages from Fox hosts, guests, and executives and concludes that people inside the network knew what they were putting on the air was false, it could find Fox liable and reward Dominion with substantial financial damages.
Fox News argues that the First Amendment protects their right to broadcast false claim
Fox News has argued in court that the First Amendment protects its right to broadcast false claims if they are inherently newsworthy — and in this case that there was nothing more newsworthy at the time than a sitting president’s allegations of widespread voter fraud. In a statement, the company said that “the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution” and protected by legal precedent. It added, “Dominion has mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context, and spilled considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law.”
However, if a jury looks at the messages from Fox hosts, guests, and executives and concludes that people inside the network knew what they were putting on the air was false, it could find Fox liable and reward Dominion with substantial financial damages.
Tucker Carlson privately criticized right-wing voices for making false voter fraud claims while promoting them on his show.
The messages revealed that on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the election, Mr. Pfeiffer said that voices on the right were “reckless demagogues.” According to a text message, Mr. Carlson replied that his show was “not going to follow them.” But he did follow them. The same day, on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Mr. Carlson expressed some doubts about the voter fraud assertions before insisting that at least some of the claims were “credible.” In the days and weeks that followed, Mr. Carlson was one of several Fox News hosts who repeatedly took a different tone when speaking to viewers on air than when they were talking privately.
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. But during his broadcast on Nov. 9, Mr. Carlson devoted time to various theories, suggesting there could be merit to claims about software manipulation. “We don’t know, we have to find out,” he said. Mr. Carlson also privately criticized Sidney Powell, a lawyer and conspiracy theorist
Fox News failed to dismiss $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Smartmatic over false election fraud claims, as judge finds "substantial basis" for claims.
FOX news faces a lawsuit from the voting machine company Smartmatic for intentionally spreading false information and conspiracies of election fraud while knowing these claims were unfounded.
A New York state judge said on Tuesday that Smartmatic, a voting machine company, can pursue its $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit claiming that Fox News Network, Rudolph Giuliani and others falsely accused the Smatmatic of rigging the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Smartmatic accused the defendants of turning it into a "villain" by fabricating a story that its technology helped Biden steal the 2020 election from Trump, doing irreparable damage to the business’ reputation.
The Florida-based company said Fox News did this to boost ratings, cater to Trump supporters, and avoid losing viewers to smaller, right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News.
The court rejected Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp’s attempt to have the claims against them dismissed.
The New York Judge reviewing the lawsuit, Cohen, found a "substantial basis" for the claim that Fox News "turned a blind eye to a litany of outrageous claims about [Smartmatic], unprecedented in the history of American elections, so inherently improbable that it evinced a reckless disregard for the truth."
The evidence that Fox turned a blind eye actually comes from comments made by Tucker Carlson, FOX’s most popular host, who denounced conspiracy theories perpetuated by Sidney Powell who accused Smartmatic of rigging the 2020 election. Though he denounced her allegations, other Fox News hosts continued to air those claims, indicating that FOX willingly perpetuated fake news in order to increase viewership.