Fox News is one of the most watched news networks in the whole world. Most of their content caters to conservative or Republican viewers who are desperate to be understood and heard during difficult times, after the 2020 election for example. And after the election, Fox News started losing viewers to news outlets like Newsmax and One America News. These alternative news sources pushed the narrative that the election was stolen, which Trump promoted at the time along with his allies. Fox News’ leadership felt that they needed to fall in line to stop the ship from sinking — losing viewers and money. Fox was going to do everything that was necessary to hold on to viewers and keep the money flowing.
Dominion Voting Systems, an elections technology company, filed a lawsuit against Fox News for defamation for $1.6 billion. Fox News hosts, after the 2020 election, reported that the software used in the voting machines caused a fraudulent election without any evidence to support their claims. And the worst part is…the Fox News hosts knew the conspiracy theories surrounding the “fraud” election were absurd and unfounded.
Dominion obtained thousand of emails and texts sent between Fox News employees and hosts. One text exchange between Tucker Carlson, host, and Alex Pfeiffer, producer, explicitly shows their disbelief of election fraud. Carlson to Pfeiffer on Nov. 7, “The software shit is absurd.” Pfeiffer replied back to Carlson, “I don’t think there is evidence of voter fraud that swung the election.” Not two days after this text message exchange, Tucker Carlson went on his show and expressed that there could be merit to the software conspiracy claims, which is very different from his private messages with his producer. Tucker Carlson also privately criticized Sidney Powell, Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist, but promoted her rhetoric and conspiracies on his show. The emails and texts obtained by Dominion show an array of conflicting messages about the “stolen” election between employees and hosts of the news network.
Fox News’ defense in the case seems to be freedom of the press and freedom of speech. However, I’ve heard law experts speak on this subject and the lawsuit looks very grim for Fox News and its leadership. The text messages and emails are a big part of Dominion’s lawsuit. Fox News has done an incredible job of keeping this story quiet on its network. It’s clear that Fox will do anything in its power to keep the money flowing and the viewers watching, no matter the cost. Even if it costs its credibility, dignity, and journalism ethics. Their allegiance resides only with the shareholders and they aren’t interested in reporting credible and evidence-based news. I hope Fox viewers understand that this news network does not have their best interest. They used and abused their immense power to hold to on to desperate viewers that only wanted to see “good” news, that the election was stolen despite the hosts knowing those claims didn’t have any evidence for support.