The single most damning part of the Fox News lawsuit
Insider information!
The headlines out of Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News have been coming fast and furious of late.
The network’s primetime hosts didn’t believe the election conspiracies they were pushing on air. There were worries that by not fully embracing those theories they might be losing viewership. And on and on and on.
It’s pretty damning stuff!
But there’s one thing in a deposition of Fox News boss Rupert Murdoch released on Monday that took my breath away. It’s this:
And here’s the slightly longer version:
So, the man who runs Fox News is sending confidential information about TV ads Biden was going to run and his debate strategy directly to one of the top advisers to his general election opponent?
Like, WHAT?
It’s hard to describe how many journalistic rules that breaks. Mainstream media are supposed to be the independent arbiters of our political campaigns. The reporting they do and the information they collect is supposed to be used to inform the public.
What Murdoch did here is the equivalent of insider trading. He used information that he came upon to help guide the strategy and tactics of a rival campaign. And a rival campaign that he made no secret he was rooting for to win!
That Murdoch was advising Trump probably shouldn’t be a surprise. The network was essential to fueling the rise of the billionaire businessman in 2015 and early 2016 and remained steadfastly loyal to him during his presidency.
Trump, in turn, lavished praise on the network’s most recognizable hosts — most notably Sean Hannity — and made a regular habit of calling in to his favorite shows just to chat.
That access to the president — and its ardent defense of him — further solidified Fox as THE news channel for conservatives in America. In a 2020 Pew poll, 6 in 10(!) Republicans and Republican leaners said they got political and election news from Fox in the previous week.
So, there was — from the Trump and Murdoch viewpoints — a virtuous cycle here. Trump was nice to Fox, Fox pumped up Trump and everyone was happy.
This all was known.
Now maybe it’s Pollyanna-ish of me but it does seem to me that the revelations in the latest Murdoch deposition take things to another level.
Positive — even fawning — coverage of Trump is one thing. But, actually providing the Trump campaign with confidential information about his opponent seems like something more — and far more nefarious.
What’s ironic about all of this is that despite its advocacy of — and direct aid for — Trump, the former president wound up turning on Fox News anyway.
“Fox is working overtime for DeSanctus, but they are failing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website on Tuesday, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “Look at the Polls. We are MAGA!”
Everyone keeps talking about all of the journalistic standards they are breaking. They ARE NOT journalists. They are entertainers. They should not be allowed to include the word "News" in their name and advertising. Now the question is, how many true journalists in the mainstream media who are not pursuing these same goals are left who can save our democracy.
Shocking!! There was gambling going on at the casino... Can you imagine the outrage from the gym coach if it were NYT/CNN/MSNBC instead of FNN??