Rupert Murdoch was eager to make a call and effectively — and emphatically — declare Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential race as vote counting continued three days after Election Day, internal Fox News emails show. Was.
The Fox News Decision Desk played a key role in the turn of events on election night 2020, calling the state of Arizona for Biden several hours before any other media outlet.
But it was Murdoch who encouraged Fox News’ leadership to take the cattle brand out of the fire and call things for Biden on Nov. 6, with votes still being counted in several states, according to the Dominion Voting System on Friday. Emails made public to the network show in a $1.6 billion defamation case.
Murdoch wrote, “It would be great if we called it quits for Biden as soon as he passed 35,000 in Pennsylvania.” “Whenever we do it will all be over. Arizona regardless.
The News Corp chairman sent another email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott 20 minutes later, amending her direction.
“Second thoughts,” Murdoch wrote. “Perhaps 50,000 more ‘subject to litigation’ in Pennsylvania.”
Murdoch noted to Paul Gigot, head of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, that this was not important with regard to Donald Trump’s approach, as the “big lie” was already underway.
Murdoch’s email said, “Gigot thinks it won’t change Trump.” “But he’s got some anecdotal evidence.
“The fact is that Rudy’s advice is really bad!” Murdoch added, referring to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer.
See below screenshots of those emails recorded in the Dominion case.
The emails describe the path Fox News took before the election, when it sought to accurately reflect and highlight the results of the 2020 election, when after the election, when the network’s ratings as Trump The hit started happening – the supportive audience started playing the tune.
Five days later, an email Scott sent to a group of Fox News leadership staff reflected the change. That communication, seen below, was also filed by Dominion on Friday.
Scott wrote, “Americans are distrustful of the media and big tech and certainly now the polling connects directly to their distrust and questions of the integrity and transparency of the voting process.” “That is why there is such intense anger over our AZ call. A trust has been broken and it is our job to help them on the other side through strong reporting, investigative pieces and of course speaking to the audience with respect.
The emails were made public the same day a judge ordered a hearing of the case after Fox News rejected a motion to dismiss for summary judgment. The mark was set for mid-April.
“We are satisfied with the Court’s thorough decision to dismiss all of Fox’s arguments and defenses and to find, as a matter of law, that his statements regarding Dominion are false. One of Dominion’s We look forward to testing, the spokesperson said in a statement.
Fox News said in a statement that the matter remained about freedom of expression.
“This case is and always has been about the First Amendment’s protection of the media’s absolute right to cover the news,” the statement said. stage of these proceedings. (A Dominion spokesman countered: “The Court rejects Fox’s First Amendment ‘latest allegation’ defense and holds that Dominion’s lawsuit is First Amendment compliant.”)
