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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> =</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">dominion discovery --> mma 3 23</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">recently released legal filing</a> in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News shows the extent to which multiple Fox executives and anchors knew that the network was pushing lies about the 2020 presidential election results on air. The filing also <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=16" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">contains</a> a startling statement by Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch: that Fox News executives who knowingly allowed lies to be broadcast should potentially be fired. From the filing (emphasis in original):</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Q. What should the consequences be when Fox News executives <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">knowingly allow lies to be broadcast? A. They should be reprimanded – They should be reprimanded, maybe got rid of. </strong>Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, Fox Corporation.</font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The filings also show the extent to which Fox executives knowingly spread the conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged the election at least in part in order to keep up with its <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/2020-election-lawsuits/fox-news-lied-about-dominion-and-2020-election-compete-far-right-newsmax" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">far-right media competitors</a></span>. These decisions now leave multiple Fox executives implicated as potentially worthy of firing, according to Rupert Murdoch’s own declared standard.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rupert Murdoch</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">First off, and most obvious, is <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rupert Murdoch himself</strong>. As chairman of the Fox Corp., Murdoch could have intervened at any time and stopped the hosts and guests featured on his network from spreading lies about the 2020 election, a fact that he bluntly <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=45" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">admitted</a> under questioning by Dominion’s lawyers. From the filing:</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Q. And you could have said to Suzanne Scott or to the hosts, “Stop putting Rudy Giuliani on the air”?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A. I could have. But I didn't.</font></strong></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Furthermore, Murdoch did nothing about the entreaties by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/rupert-murdoch-knew-he-could-stop-fox-news-lies-leading-january-6-did-nothing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fox board member Paul Ryan</a>, a former Republican speaker of the House, who <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=38" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argued</a> according to the filing “that Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy theories.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Murdoch did, however, take direct action to get rid of a Fox executive who told the truth. On November 20, 2020, Murdoch personally signed off on firing vice president and Washington <b>managing editor Bill Sammon, who had been involved in <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/media/2021/11/03/fox-news-biden-arizona-call-election-night/8544699002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the network’s projection</a> that President Joe Biden had won Arizona, which assured Biden his Electoral College victory. “Maybe best to let Bill go right away,” Murdoch <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=162" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a>, per the filing, adding that this move would “be a big message with Trump people.</b>”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lachlan Murdoch</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Rupert Murdoch’s son and Fox Corp. CEO <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lachlan Murdoch</strong> is also clearly guilty under the standard that his father enunciated, as he helped tailor the network’s messaging to help promote lies about the election. As just one example,<b> Lachlan instructed the network to give <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/2020-election-lawsuits/fox-corp-ceo-lachlan-murdoch-insisted-network-cover-proto-jan-6-rally-more" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">positive coverage to a “Stop the Steal” rally</a> on November 14, 2020, </b>which served as a prelude to the January 6 insurrection, and to brand the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/us/trump-washington-voters-rally-far-right/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">violent and far-right event</a> as a “celebration of the president.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Dominion filing <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=155" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">further alleges</a> that in addition to Lachlan’s close interactions with his other key executives, “specific evidence shows he attended the November 13 afternoon editorial meeting” that preceded an episode of<b> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lou Dobbs Tonight</span> that featured disgraced Trump-allied attorney Sidney Powell. </b>The then-Fox Business host Lou Dobbs repeatedly called Powell a “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001358" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">great American</a>,” while she claimed that Dominion had been “created to produce altered voting results in Venezuela for Hugo Chavez, and then shipped internationally to manipulate votes for purchase in other countries, including this one.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Suzanne Scott</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Fox News CEO <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Suzanne Scott</strong> also played a clear role in spreading lies and suppressing the truth on the network. Under questioning, Scott <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/02/16/2023-02-16-redacted-dominion-opening-sj-brief.pdf#page=14" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">affirmed</a> that she had always believed, since at least when the network itself had called Arizona and thus the election on November 7, 2020, that in fact Biden had won legitimately.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">And yet on multiple occasions, Scott reprimanded on-air talent who called out the lies and conspiracy theories</span>. E<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">xamples include <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/2020-election-lawsuits/fox-corp-ceo-lachlan-murdoch-insisted-network-cover-proto-jan-6-rally-more" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">her involvement</a> with Lachlan Murdoch in reprimanding then-anchor Leland Vittert’s coverage of the November 14 “Stop the Steal” rally, as well as her reported <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/revealed-how-fox-prime-time-hosts-and-executives-attacked-fox-reporters-who-fact-checked" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“screaming</a>” about negative coverage by anchor Dana Perino and then-Fox reporter Kristen Fisher of the infamous November 19 press conference by Trump attorneys and election conspiracy theorists Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.</span> “<b>The audience feels like we crapped on [them] and we have damaged their trust and belief in us….We can fix this but we cannot smirk at our viewers any longer,”</b> Scott said at the time.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The filing also reveals that Scott worked personally to preserve the network’s relationship with right-wing billionaire conspiracy theorist<b> Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow</b>, assisting him in spreading dangerous lies about the election and Dominion Voting Systems. In mid-December, after Lindell publicly claimed that Fox was supposedly “in on” stealing the election, the filing details that Scott <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=51" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent a personal note and a gift</a> to Lindell. She further suggested that shows should book Lindell in order to “get ratings.” (Rupert Murdoch himself <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=51" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">admitted</a> that Fox went out of its way to preserve its relationship with Lindell, one of the network’s largest advertisers, to shore up its profits.)</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When the network later hosted Lindell on the January 26, 2021, edition of <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Tucker Carlson Tonight</b></span>, the star prime-time host depicted his network’s top advertiser as a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-suddenly-gives-welcome-ear-election-conspiracy-theories-when-they" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">champion of free speech</a>, rather than challenging him on his false claims about the election or his apparent effort to urge Trump to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/15/pillow-salesman-apparently-has-some-ideas-about-declaring-martial-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">impose martial law</a>.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Viet Dinh</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Fox Corp. chief legal and policy officer <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Viet Dinh</strong> also <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=22" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">admitted</a> during his testimony that Fox executives had a duty to “prevent and correct” falsehoods.</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q. But when the executives at Fox News know that hosts of shows are broadcasting allegations that the executives know or believe to be false, in that situation, the executives have an obligation to act, right?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A. If they are within the chain of command and if they -- and if they come to that knowledge, yes.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q. And by “act,” that means to put a stop to it, right?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Q. They have an obligation under those circumstances, the executives do, in the chain of command, to put a stop to those broadcasts, right, sir?</font></strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A. Yes, to prevent and correct known falsehoods.</font></strong></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Dinh confirmed under questioning that he had “<a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=125" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pretty easily</a>” been able to look up and debunk the claim that Dominion was owned by a Venezuelan company and founded in order to rig elections for the late dictator Hugo Chavez. But the filing suggests Dinh <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=168" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">failed to require</a> Fox News hosts and guests to debunk such easily discredited lies. On the contrary, the network aired that bogus claim <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/it-wasnt-just-sidney-powell-fox-repeated-same-dominion-lies" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">over and over again</a>.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Raj Shah</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox Senior Vice President <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Raj Shah </strong>sent numerous internal communications about the damage to Fox’s reputation among conservative viewers, including the supposed “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/revealed-how-fox-prime-time-hosts-and-executives-attacked-fox-reporters-who-fact-checked" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">brand threat</a>” posed by Fox figures who openly debunked Trump’s fake claims of mass election fraud. On November 13, he <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=40" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent</a> a “Brand Protection Unit Roundup” to Lachlan Murdoch, Dinh, and Scott, stating there was “strong conservative and viewer backlash to Fox that we are working to track and mitigate.” He further explained that “[p]ositive impressions of Fox News among our viewers dropped precipitously after Election Day to the lowest levels we’ve ever seen.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In order to mitigate this damage, at one point he pitched the idea of “<a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=170" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">some sort of public mea culpa for the AZ call</a>,” or “some programming that’s focused on hearing our viewers grievances about how we’ve handled the election.” I<b>n other words, Shah wanted the network to apologize for actually broadcasting a truthful story.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In another instance, when host Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/right-wing-media-feud-erupts-over-trump-lawyer-sidney-powells-bonkers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">briefly feuded</a> with Sidney Powell, Shah <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=171" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">instructed a producer</a> for Carlson’s show to downplay the extent of her ludicrous claims. At the same time as Shah described Powell’s claims as “so fucking insane,” he also advised Carlson’s team to “pivot to being deferential.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Shah suggested the phrasing “we hope she is able to provide the evidence in court and we’ll bring it to viewers when they do” — even though he knew no such evidence existed or could ever be offered in court. In another message just the next day, Shah described Powell’s claims as “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jay Wallace</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News President and Executive Editor <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jay Wallace</strong> is also responsible for his inaction on the network’s continued lies about the election, even as a Dominion consultant repeatedly </span><a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=42" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">reached out to him personall</span>y</a> (citations removed):</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">The day before the WSJ editorial and article appeared—November 16— </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Dominion’s Communications Consultant Tony Fratto, former Deputy White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush</b>, personally brought the false allegations to the attention of the two top executives at FNN—Scott and Wallace</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">— telling them that Dominion, “as you know, has received a great deal of attention on FoxNews [sic] and from the President. An enormous amount of misinformation -- actually, completely and verifiable wrong information—is finding its way on-air.” F<b>ratto offered to provide the two of them a briefing about Dominion and concluded: “I think this situation is crossing dangerous lines.”</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scott responded asking Wallace to provide his thoughts, and Wallace and Fratto then spoke over the phone. When Lou Dobbs again broadcast lies about Dominion that very night, Fratto reached out again to Wallace. He forwarded part of the transcript to Wallace and told him: “More fucking out [and out] lies. Honestly. He is a disgrace.”</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Irena Briganti</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Irena Briganti</strong>, Fox News senior executive vice president of corporate communications, also presided over the network’s continued inaction, even as it was clearly brought to her attention <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=46" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">via a press inquiry</a> (</span>citations removed):</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On December 1, a reporter with The Washington Post emailed FNN stating that Powell had appeared on both Dobbs and Hannity’s programs the day before making claims of voting machine fraud. The reporter asked,</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em 48px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[D]oes Fox News Media management have any concerns about the veracity of the claims that Powell has been making on network shows? Is Sidney Powell welcome to appear on any Fox News Media show? Has Fox News Media encouraged show hosts to fact-check claims about voter fraud?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">Irena Briganti forwarded the inquiry to Scott and Wallace, stating “FYI—we spoke with Lauren [Petterson] and Meade [Cooper] </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and there’s nothing to combat this, so we are not responding.”</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">David Clark</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">David Clark</strong>, senior vice president for weekend news and programming, was directly responsible for Fox host Maria Bartiromo’s <b><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sunday Morning Futures</span> </b>program, in which she hosted Giuliani and Powell. </span>The filing <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=33" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reveals</a> that he also agreed with the statement that there was “no credible evidence of massive cheating or fraud,” and yet he allowed her to continue <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/fox-anchor-maria-bartiromo-keeps-promoting-debunked-tinfoil-hat" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spreading conspiracy theories</a> by hosting figures such as Powell and Giuliani, and to not push back on them. I<b>nterestingly, the Dominion filing notes the ways in which Clark took active steps to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-producers-thought-jeanine-pirro-was-nuts-then-network-promoted-her-its-top-rated-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">temporarily rein in</a> Fox host Jeanine Pirro, but he seemingly failed to do so with Bartiromo.</b></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox Business executives</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox Business executives <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lauren Petterson </strong>and<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Gary Schreier</strong> spoke of using Fox Business shows to grab viewers who were going away from Fox News proper, by supporting the election lies. (They just couldn’t be as open about it, compared to Fox’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/2020-election-lawsuits/fox-news-lied-about-dominion-and-2020-election-compete-far-right-newsmax" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">far-right competition</a> at Newsmax.) From the <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/2023/03/02/2023-02-27-redacted-dominions-answering-brief-in-opp-to-smj.pdf?VersionId=b5YWAL48BlcDpa1fUHXgtcWCHSx.Z5rh#page=32" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filing</a> (citations removed):</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The night of November 7, after Fox called the election, Fox Business Network (“FBN”) President Lauren Petterson wrote FBN executive Gary Schreier that she had turned off Fox’s coverage: “I don’t know how we work here. Honestly. We are going to look back at this week and know this was when we lost a significant part of our audience who won’t come back. As soon as Facebook starts telling people to go to [N]ewsmax.” But Schreier and Petterson saw an opening: “You know though between us. This is a problem for the channel yes. But if we keep doing what we do, fbn will get a bunch of the disenfranchised folks too.” Petterson responded: “100 percent. I was talking about exactly that with my husband last night.<b> It’s actually an opening for us.” Schreier: “Yes. We just can’t play for it openly like newsmax and oan.”</b></font></p></div></blockquote><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-reportedly-launches-covert-anti-media-matters-effort">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-reportedly-launches-covert-anti-media-matters-effort</a></div><div>
</div><div><header class="editorial-fullheader" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="editorial-fulltitle page-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0.45455em; padding: 0px;"><span property="schema:name" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News reportedly launches covert anti-Media Matters effort</font></span></h1><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">From a business perspective, Rupert Murdoch has cause for concern</font></p><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.3rem; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span class="bylinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">WRITTEN BY</span> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/author/angelo-carusone" hreflang="en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ANGELO CARUSONE</a></font></p><div class="dateline--group" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><p class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span class="datelinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">PUBLISHED</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <time datetime="2020-06-01T09:20:13-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">06/01/20 </time></span></font></p></div></header><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The New York Times reported that Rupert Murdoch has secretly hired a conservative operative and two former conservative bloggers to fight back against the work of Media Matters and advertiser education campaigners <a href="http://twitter.com/slpng_giants" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sleeping Giants</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under the direction of former Trump White House official <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/comprehensive-review-revolving-door-between-fox-and-trump-administration" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Raj Shah</a>, the group will attempt to discredit the work of Fox’s critics and save the <a href="https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1244819791644364802" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">few remaining advertisers the network has left</a>.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/business/media/cable-news-fox-msnbc-cnn.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Ben Smith’s May 31 report</a>:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">Quietly, Mr. Murdoch and his main deputy Viet Dinh, a former Bush administration official, have begun taking a more aggressive approach. Last summer, they hired Raj Shah, a former Trump White House official who led opposition research against Hillary Clinton at the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Republican National Committee</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> And this year, I recently learned</span><b style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">, Mr. Shah has begun to build a secret operation, hiring two fo</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">rmer reporters for the conservative Washington Free Beacon, Elliott Schwartz and Alex Griswold. </b>(Mr. Schwartz had also run Jeb Bush’s campaign “war room.”) Their job is to defend Fox from criticism from progressive outlets like Media Matters and Sleeping Giants on social media, protect advertising dollars and<b> discredit critics</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><b>,</b> three people familiar with the work said. (The two former reporters have conspicuously omitted Fox from their Twitter bios.)</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">The </span><b style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">team has also pushed the narrative that the rest of the media played down the threat of coronavirus as egregiously as Fox did</b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">, two journalists who have spoken to them said.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> A Fox spokeswoman, Megan Klein, declined to comment on the new operation. Mr. Griswold said “no comment”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> and hung up on me before I could ask him a question, and Mr. Schwartz didn’t respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Fox News, Irena Briganti, said the chief executive, Suzanne Scott, wouldn’t be available for an interview.</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">From a business perspective, Murdoch has cause for concern.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News is actually suffering quite severely on the advertising front (due in large part to the efforts of Media Matters, Sleeping Giants, advocacy organizations, and online activists). Over the past few years, the network has actually lost hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To illustrate the kinds of advertising issues that Fox News is experiencing, here’s a snapshot showing the average number of paid commercials per show for host Tucker Carlson over a 22-month period. The number of paid commercials dropped off in late 2018 and then quite severely in early 2019. The show has still not recovered.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p></div></div><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -58.625px; margin-right: -58.625px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><img src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2020/05/31/Screen%20Shot%202020-05-31%20at%2010.50.04%20PM.png?itok=MotYygaI" width="988" height="666" alt="Tucker Carlson's advertising revenues have declined significantly" typeof="foaf:Image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; width: 879.375px;" /><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);" /></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to approximated advertising revenue obtained and analyzed by Media Matters, Carlson’s show generated about $100 million in advertising revenue for Fox News in 2017. Carlson’s revenue plummeted following the advertiser exodus in 2018</span>. The effect was so significant that if you combined the total advertising revenue his show generated in 2018 and 2019, the combined amount is still less than what Carlson’s show earned in 2017. The loss is anywhere between $70 million and $80 million.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson’s show is not the only Fox News program that experienced big dips in the number of paid commercials and revenue either.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bottom line: Fox News has lost a significant amount of advertising revenue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much more than advertising revenue is at stake for Fox News this year, though. Fox also has to worry about its contract negotiations with cable providers. This year, Fox News is renegotiating cable contracts that account for about 65% of its subscriber fee revenue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox News actually gets the majority of its revenue from subscriber fees, not advertising revenue.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Every TV channel charges cable providers a fee for carrying the channel that is determined during contract negotiations. It’s called a subscriber fee. Providers pay this fee for each customer they have, regardless of whether that person ever watches the channel. Providers then bundle channels into packages and pass costs to subscribers. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News is notoriously recognized as the most aggressive negotiator. To be clear, it’s not just that the network is good at negotiating. It lies, bullies, and -- in my opinion -- cheats. For example, during these negotiations, Fox doesn’t tell viewers it is trying to charge them more. Instead, it threatens the provider with access to Fox News. Then it turns around and tells Fox News viewers that their cable company is trying to silence Fox News for ideological reasons; the network enlists hosts to spread misinformation too.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So what’s the effect of all this? Subscriber fees for news and information channels are normally pretty small. MSNBC gets about 33 cents, CNN gets about 70 cents to 90 cents (and that includes CNN and CNN Headline News). In contrast, Fox News gets more than $2 per month from every cable customer in the country. This is wildly out of step with industry averages.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During this round of renegotiation, Fox News is trying to inflate those fees even more. The network is looking at increases as high as 75% in some cases. If it's successful, that would mean Fox News could be getting as much as $3 per month in some circumstances per customer.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much like advertisers have been increasingly rejecting Fox News, a backlash among cable providers has been brewing as well. The recognition of Fox News’ toxicity and extremism only compounds the headwinds the network faces heading into negotiations.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In part because of all the advertising revenue the network has lost, Fox News needs this current round of negotiations to succeed. It can’t merely hold the line; it needs big increases to offset the lost advertising revenue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To fully understand Murdoch’s cause for concern, it’s important to recognize that it’s not just about advertising revenue, but also the revenue earned from these contract negotiations.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For more, here’s a Twitter thread that delves a bit deeper into Fox News' trouble with advertisers as well as the importance of these subscriber fee renegotiations:</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In case you’re curious, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/these-are-fox-news-leading-advertisers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">these are Fox News’ leading advertisers</a>. You can also tell your cable or satellite provider you don’t want to pay for the network by <a href="http://unfoxmycablebox.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">getting in touch with them here</a>.</font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div></div>