Rupert Murdoch, the owner, and chairman of Fox News’ parent company, fretted two of the network’s opinion hosts may have gone “too far” in talking about claims the 2020 election was stolen.
In a Jan. 21, 2021, email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, Murdoch noted the network was still “getting mud thrown at us” over the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, per The Hill.
He also wrote about hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, “Maybe Sean and Laura went too far.”
“All very well for Sean to tell you he was in despair about Trump, but what did he tell his viewers?” he added.
The email was released in a filing as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News over allegations the network knowingly promoted false claims about its systems.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and his executive producer also mocked the election claims, according to a legal filing.
In a statement, Fox News responded to the filing as it said, “Thanks to today’s filings, Dominion has been caught red-handed using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press.”
“We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale,” the statement added.
In testimony from Murdoch, in a separate filing, he admitted that “some of our commentators were endorsing” conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
“I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” he added.
The details shared about Fox News hosts and executives’ conversations about the fraud claims prompted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to issue a set of demands for the network.
In a letter to Fox News executives, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote, “As noted in your deposition released yesterday, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other Fox News personalities knowingly, repeatedly, and dangerously endorsed and promoted the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.”
It continued:
“Though you have acknowledged your regret in allowing this grave propaganda to take place, your network hosts continue to promote, spew, and perpetuate election conspiracy theories to this day.”
The letter added, “We demand that you direct Tucker Carlson and other hosts on your network to stop spreading false election narratives and admit on air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior.”
NEW: @SenSchumer & @RepJeffries have sent a ltr to Rupert Murdoch and Fox News execs after the Murdoch deposition was released calling on them “to stop spreading false election narratives and admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior.” pic.twitter.com/QzzkJ91ERw
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) March 1, 2023
Fox has claimed Dominion “mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context” in its legal filings.
