Posted on Feb 16, 2023
Off the air, Fox News stars blasted the election fraud claims they peddled
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https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/ [login to see] /fox-news-stars-false-claims-trump-election-2020
In the days and weeks after the 2020 elections, the Fox News Channel repeatedly broadcast false claims that then-President Donald Trump had been cheated of victory.
Off the air, the network's stars, producers and executives expressed contempt for those same conspiracies, calling them "mind-blowingly nuts," "totally off the rails" and "completely bs" - often in far earthier terms.
The network's top primetime stars - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity - texted contemptuously of the claims in group chats, but also denounced colleagues pointing that out publicly or on television.
Ingraham called Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell "a bit nuts." Carlson, who famously demanded evidence from Powell on the air, privately used a vulgar epithet for women to describe her. A top network programming executive wrote privately that he did not believe the shows of Carlson, Hannity and Jeanine Pirro were credible sources of news.
In the days and weeks after the 2020 elections, the Fox News Channel repeatedly broadcast false claims that then-President Donald Trump had been cheated of victory.
Off the air, the network's stars, producers and executives expressed contempt for those same conspiracies, calling them "mind-blowingly nuts," "totally off the rails" and "completely bs" - often in far earthier terms.
The network's top primetime stars - Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity - texted contemptuously of the claims in group chats, but also denounced colleagues pointing that out publicly or on television.
Ingraham called Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell "a bit nuts." Carlson, who famously demanded evidence from Powell on the air, privately used a vulgar epithet for women to describe her. A top network programming executive wrote privately that he did not believe the shows of Carlson, Hannity and Jeanine Pirro were credible sources of news.
Off the air, Fox News stars blasted the election fraud claims they peddled
Posted from npr.org
Fox News Channel
Donald Trump
Election 2020
Journalism
Posted >1 y ago
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When a Trump supporter or Fox follower tells you they are interested in "facts" and "truth", it is difficult not to laugh. Take CPT Trione for example. It is set out in black and white in the article, or he could go screen the court filings and evidentiary documents, but would much rather bury his head in the sand to avoid the cardinal sin for a Trumpublican... admitting that they were wrong.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Even so, top executives strategized about how to make it up to their viewers - among Trump's strongest supporters - after Fox News' election-night team correctly called the pivotal state of Arizona for Democratic nominee Joe Biden before other networks. A sense of desperation pervades the private notes from Fox's top stars, reflecting an obsession with the erosion in ratings.
"It's remarkable how weak ratings make... good journalists do bad things," Bill Sammon, at the time the network's Washington Managing Editor, privately wrote on Dec. 2, 2020.
The audience started to erode severely that fall, starting on Election Night itself. Fox executives and stars equally obsessed over the threat posed by the smaller right-wing network Newsmax. Hannity texted Carlson and Ingraham that Fox's Arizona call "destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable." Carlson shot back that it was "vandalism." Others hosts, including Dana Perino, were equally shocked.
Fox News host Neal Cavuto was attacked by colleagues for pulling away from a presentation by then White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany in which she made unfounded claims of fraud once more. (McEnany is now a host on Fox News.)
Those revelations and far more surfaced in legal filings made public late this afternoon as part of Dominion Voting System's blockbuster $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its parent company. Dominion sued after Fox hosts and guests repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the company had switched Trump votes to Biden.
The material presented in the remarkable 178-page brief Thursday evening reflects there were no illusions that there was heft to the allegations of election fraud even among those Fox figures who gave the most intense embrace to Trump allies peddling those lies.
Instead, Dominion's attorneys paint a portrait of inner turmoil, anger and angst at the news network."...
..."Even so, top executives strategized about how to make it up to their viewers - among Trump's strongest supporters - after Fox News' election-night team correctly called the pivotal state of Arizona for Democratic nominee Joe Biden before other networks. A sense of desperation pervades the private notes from Fox's top stars, reflecting an obsession with the erosion in ratings.
"It's remarkable how weak ratings make... good journalists do bad things," Bill Sammon, at the time the network's Washington Managing Editor, privately wrote on Dec. 2, 2020.
The audience started to erode severely that fall, starting on Election Night itself. Fox executives and stars equally obsessed over the threat posed by the smaller right-wing network Newsmax. Hannity texted Carlson and Ingraham that Fox's Arizona call "destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable." Carlson shot back that it was "vandalism." Others hosts, including Dana Perino, were equally shocked.
Fox News host Neal Cavuto was attacked by colleagues for pulling away from a presentation by then White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany in which she made unfounded claims of fraud once more. (McEnany is now a host on Fox News.)
Those revelations and far more surfaced in legal filings made public late this afternoon as part of Dominion Voting System's blockbuster $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its parent company. Dominion sued after Fox hosts and guests repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the company had switched Trump votes to Biden.
The material presented in the remarkable 178-page brief Thursday evening reflects there were no illusions that there was heft to the allegations of election fraud even among those Fox figures who gave the most intense embrace to Trump allies peddling those lies.
Instead, Dominion's attorneys paint a portrait of inner turmoil, anger and angst at the news network."...
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