Rupert Murdoch Admits To Election Misinformation

Rupert Murdoch admits to election misinformation in the 2020 US presidential election after Dominion Voting System filed a $1.6 billion law suit against Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, admitted during a deposition for Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News that some of the network's hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. While Murdoch denied that the right-wing talk network as an entity endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies, he did concede that Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs promoted the falsehood about the presidential contest being stolen. Murdoch acknowledged that he would have preferred the network to have been more forceful in denouncing the claims.

Regarding Trump's election lies, the filing showed that Murdoch referred to them as "bulls**t and damaging." However, Fox News pushed back against Dominion's lawsuit in a statement, calling it "dubious" and claiming that the company has had to significantly reduce its damages demand after its own expert debunked its "implausible claims."

Fox Defends Election Coverage

Fox News has responded to Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network, defending its coverage of the 2020 election and claiming that Dominion’s case should be dismissed. The lawsuit accuses Fox News of falsely claiming that Dominion rigged the election against former President Donald Trump.

COPYRIGHT_BP: Published on https://bingepost.com/rupert-murdoch-admits-to-election-misinformation/ by Hilda Workman on 2023-03-01T05:57:24.500Z

In a filing made public on Monday, Fox argued that it should not be held liable for the claims of its hosts and that Dominion has produced “zero evidentiary support” for its accusations. The network also criticized Dominion’s “flawed” summary judgment motion, which it said took an “extreme, unsupported view of defamation law” and violated the First Amendment.

Earlier this month, a trove of messages and emails from Fox News executives and hosts were made public, revealing that they privately ridiculed claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, despite promoting such claims on air. The revelations have put Fox in a “more precarious situation” in defending against the lawsuit, according to renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams. However, Fox maintains that Dominion’s case should be dismissed and has vowed to fight the allegations.

Harvard Law School's Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law, Rebecca Tushnet, has praised Dominion's evidence in their defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Tushnet describes the evidence as "very strong" and notes that it clearly demonstrates the difference between what Fox was saying publicly and what its top executives were admitting privately.

Tushnet, who has practiced and taught law for years, claims that she has never seen such conclusive evidence collected in the pre-trial phase of a defamation suit. She also notes that the evidence is unprecedented, stating that "Donald Trump seems to be very good at generating unprecedented situations."

Murdoch Admits Fox Misinformation

Murdoch testified in a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems that he believed it was "wrong" for Tucker Carlson to host MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on his program to repeat election fraud allegations against Dominion. Murdoch said that it was a "business decision" to continue allowing Lindell to make these claims on the network because he pays Fox News a lot of money. Murdoch also admitted that he could have stopped Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, former lawyers for President Trump, from appearing on the network's programs but chose not to.

Former House Speaker and Fox Corporation board member, Paul Ryan, repeatedly warned Murdoch and Fox News about the dangerous effects of discussing false election fraud narratives on air with viewers. Ryan advised the Murdochs to "move on from Donald Trump and stop spouting election lies."

He urged the network to put down the echoes of falsehoods and get onto principled loyal opposition. Murdoch responded that "everything changed" after the events of January 6, 2021, and asked Ryan for suggestions for contributors.

Dominion's filing also revealed that Rupert Murdoch gave Jared Kushner confidential information about Joe Biden's ads and debate strategy in 2020, providing Kushner with a preview of Biden's ads before they were public. On election night, Kushner called Murdoch upset about the media's coverage of the election that was ultimately called for Biden.

Murdoch could hear Trump's voice in the background shouting, and he replied, "Well, the numbers are the numbers." Murdoch testified that he believed no fraud had occurred in the election, as demonstrated by Fox News' projection that Joe Biden would win Arizona.

About The Authors

Hilda Workman - Hilda Workman is a licensed financial advisor with years of expertise in the industry. She has assisted a range of clients, from sole proprietors to large corporations, in reaching their financial objectives. She is informed about many different financial subjects, including tax preparation, investment planning and also in fashion. She believes that the best things are those that are imperfect.