Read The Texts: Lawsuit Reveals Damning New Evidence Of Fox Deception
Media Matters has obtained a slide deck used at a March 21 hearing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion is currently suing the network for repeating lies about the company's involvement in the 2020 election in furtherance of the Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Filings from the suit made public over recent weeks have shown that from the Murdochs themselves to top talent and show producers, Fox engaged in a systematic effort to profit from lies about the 2020 election and avoid backlash from its rabid audience.
Media Matters’ Matt Gertz highlighted some topline findings from the new slides in a Twitter thread.
In one instance, in response to anchor Eric Shawn fact-checking one of Donald Trump's election lies, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said, “This has to stop now. ... This is bad business. ... The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material.”
\u201cIn an email, Fox CEO Suzanne Scott responds to Fox's Eric Shawn fact-checking a Trump falsehood: "This has to stop now... this is bad business... the audience is furious and we are just feeding them material."\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
Notes from a pre-interview with Rep. Kevin McCarthy reveal him saying that he did not believe there was “mass cheat” in the 2020 election.
\u201c"Raw notes" from a November 7, 2020, pre-interview with Kevin McCarthy for Bartiromo's show have him saying there was no "mass cheat" in the 2020 election\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
Texts show Tucker Carlson calling former Trump attorney Sidney Powell a “crazy person” and “a psychopath” among various slurs.
\u201cDominion responds to Fox saying Tucker Carlson "respected" Sidney Powell with texts in which he calls her a "crazy person" and various slurs.\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
Another instance shows Fox “Brain Room” staffer Leonard Balducci sending fact checks from Dominion and The Associated Press debunking election fraud claims to production staff.
\u201cOn November 13, Fox "Brain Room" employee Leonard Balducci circulated fact-checks from Dominion and the AP debunking various claims about the company.\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
An email shows Scott stressing that “I can't keep defending these reporters who don't understand our viewers and how to handle stories. ... We lost 25k subs from FOX NATION.”
\u201cSuzanne Scott, November 19, 2020 email: "I can't keep defending these reporters who don't understand our viewers and how to handle stories... We lost 25k subs from FOX NATION."\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
In a text chain, Carlson called election denier Mike Lindell “definitely crazy,” but conceded that he “has bailed us out loads of times when no one else would” with ads.
\u201cTucker Carlson's team discussing an upcoming interview with Mike Lindell -- "He's definitely crazy" but "has bailed us out loads of times when no one else would" with ads.\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
In an email to Fox executives, Jeanine Pirro’s executive producer said her pre-taped monologue “is rife w[ith] conspiracy theories and bs and is yet another example why this woman should never be on live television.”
\u201cHere's a November 20, 2020 email from Jeanine Pirro's executive producer to Fox executives saying that a pre-taped Pirro monologue "is rife w conspiracy theories and bs and is yet another example why this woman should never be on live television."\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
An internal review confirmed that parts of her monologue were incorrect or unconfirmed, and the network aired it anyway.
\u201cFox did an internal review of that Pirro monologue and concluded that parts of it were incorrect -- but they ended up airing it anyway!\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
Soon after, Fox promoted Pirro to co-host of the live panel show The Five.
\u201cFox subsequently promoted Pirro, making her a co-host of the LIVE panel show The Five. https://t.co/qmheJyGyh3\u201d— Matthew Gertz (@Matthew Gertz) 1680108271
Fox Corp. is now kicking off the yearly effort to sell the majority of its advertising space on Fox News and other properties with a misleading pitch to buyers that features some of the top talent who pushed lies about the election and others who enabled them behind the scenes. For more information on the Dominion lawsuit, click here.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
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