Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News has placed a glaring spotlight on the internal workings of the network, revealing a marked disconnect between what executives and hosts said privately about the 2020 election and what they broadcast to millions of viewers. Documents and internal communications made public in new court filings highlight the degree to which the network was willing to punish their own staff to avoid angering their audience with factual reporting.
Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and other prominent figures within Fox knew the election was legitimate, filings have revealed, but the network kept promoting false claims of election fraud, largely because executives feared a backlash from viewers over any suggestion President Biden did indeed win the election.
CEO Suzanne Scott came down particularly hard on former Fox White House Correspondent Kristin Fisher after she fact-checked a bizarre press conference from Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. “I can’t keep defending these reporters who don’t understand our viewers and how to handle stories,” she wrote in an email to network President Jay Wallace. “We need to manage this […] The audience feels like we crapped on [them] and we have damaged their trust and belief in us.”
In a separate email chain, with the subject line “Brand Alert,” Scott wrote that the network couldn’t “give the crazies an inch” because they are “looking for and blowing up all appearances of disrespect to the audience.”
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