A lawsuit over Fox News' distribution of allegations of electoral fraud by former US President Trump has revealed juicy details. Internal communication proves: The moderators deliberately spread false accusations. Apparently it was about quota.
After US President Joe Biden's election victory in 2020, countless Republicans went so far as to believe that the election victory had been "stolen" from incumbent Donald Trump through massive voter fraud. The conservative media probably played the biggest part in keeping the alleged "Big Lie" a constant topic of conversation. Above all, the influential television station Fox News with its popular faces Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. Now court documents show: Neither the moderators nor their bosses believed in it, but they still spread it permanently.
The corresponding text messages and testimonies come from the lawsuit brought by the voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems. The company is seeking $1.6 billion from Fox News for defamation.
Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Fox News, among other things, spread the claim that the voting machines could erase votes for one candidate and give another. The function was developed for former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. In the lawsuit, Dominion alleges that not a single witness at Fox News testified that the allegations against the company were true.
"By the way (Trump's lawyer Sidney Powell is lying). I caught her," Carlson wrote to his colleague Ingraham in mid-November, as the New York Times explains. The presenter replied, "(She) is nuts. Nobody wants to work with her. Same goes for Rudy (Giuliani)." Carlson made it clear that he knew viewers believed it, but he didn't. Internal fact checks at Fox News found "False" and later found "No evidence of widespread fraud."
The election took place on November 3rd, the counting dragged on for days. Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the conservative media empire Fox, which also owns the news channel, said shortly after the election that Trump's allegations of fraud were "really crazy stuff". Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott testified that she believed Biden had won the election by November 7 at the latest. The Fox News programming director said it was not true to say on the air that the election was stolen. "I didn't believe it for a second," testified Sean Hannity. Hannity is considered a loyal confidant of Trump.
But why did the moderators continue to spread the stories of Trump's associates - a lie said to have been based on the idea of a tipsy Rudy Giuliani on election night - and why weren't they stopped by their bosses? The reason might be money. Fox News was the first US television network to predict Joe Biden's election victory. After that, however, ratings plummeted and Trump refused to acknowledge his competitor's victory. So the moderators began to spread the conspiracy theories of Giuliani and Co. and sow permanent doubts.
The lawsuit contains lengthy redactions that, at Fox News' request, hide the station's internal communications. On Nov. 12, a Fox News reporter tweeted fact-checking a Trump tweet that referenced a broadcast on the TV station - saying there was no evidence of voter fraud using Dominion voting machines. Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham exchanged views, Carlson demanded: "Please let them quit. It has to stop tonight. It's demonstrably damaging the company. The share price is down. No joke." The tweet disappeared overnight.
In the process, Dominion has to prove that Fox News not only reported, but that the station's guests, moderators or bosses acted with bad intentions, i.e. were aware that the programs were being lied about and allowed it anyway, or that they were grossly negligent in not complying with the verified truthfulness. The information now published suggests that both cases are true. A law professor was quoted as saying by the New York Times that the lawsuit contained direct evidence of Fox News' malicious intent. It is one of the best documented charges among comparable cases.
The moderators could also face legal consequences for their behavior in the weeks after the election. According to US law, journalists have a duty of care. You cannot be prosecuted for reporting false statements, but you can be prosecuted for promoting it. Fox News says it did what any news outlet would do: report and comment on something newsworthy. "We have fulfilled our obligation to provide full information and to comment fairly," the broadcaster's defense said.
