New details in Dominion suit reveal damning evidence of deception in Fox News' 2020 election coverage

Written by Madeline Peltz

Research contributions from Matt Gertz & Jacina Hollins-Borges

Published

Media Matters has obtained a slide deck used at a March 21 hearing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion is currently suing the network for repeating lies about the company's involvement in the 2020 election in furtherance of the Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Filings from the suit made public over recent weeks have shown that from the Murdochs themselves to top talent and show producers, Fox engaged in a systematic effort to profit from lies about the 2020 election and avoid backlash from its rabid audience. 

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz highlighted some topline findings from the new slides in a Twitter thread.

In one instance, in response to anchor Eric Shawn fact-checking one of Donald Trump's election lies, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said, “This has to stop now. ... This is bad business. ... The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material.”

Notes from a pre-interview with Rep. Kevin McCarthy reveal him saying that he did not believe there was “mass cheat” in the 2020 election.

Texts show Tucker Carlson calling former Trump attorney Sidney Powell a “crazy person” and “a psychopath” among various slurs.

Another instance shows Fox “Brain Room” staffer Leonard Balducci sending fact checks from Dominion and The Associated Press debunking election fraud claims to production staff. 

An email shows Scott stressing that “I can't keep defending these reporters who don't understand our viewers and how to handle stories. ... We lost 25k subs from FOX NATION.”

 

In a text chain, Carlson called election denier Mike Lindell “definitely crazy,” but conceded that he “has bailed us out loads of times when no one else would” with ads.

In an email to Fox executives, Jeanine Pirro’s executive producer said her pre-taped monologue “is rife w[ith] conspiracy theories and bs and is yet another example why this woman should never be on live television.” 

An internal review confirmed that parts of her monologue were incorrect or unconfirmed, and the network aired it anyway.

Soon after, Fox promoted Pirro to co-host of the live panel show The Five.

Fox Corp. is now kicking off the yearly effort to sell the majority of its advertising space on Fox News and other properties with a misleading pitch to buyers that features some of the top talent who pushed lies about the election and others who enabled them behind the scenes. For more information on the Dominion lawsuit, click here.