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According to a court document allegedly leaked to The New York Times, Fox News aimed to “move on” from former President Donald Trump after his defeat in the 2020 election in relation to its recent settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
The leak surfaced shortly after the two parties reached a settlement in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion a record $787.5 million for defamation, though the settlement did not include a formal apology from the network to the voting software company.
“Fox settled with Dominion over charges that Fox News baselessly accused the company of rigging its voting machines against former President Donald Trump in 2020. It was the most-watched media libel case in decades,” The Associated Press reported, adding that through various financial mechanisms such as insurance coverage and tax deductibility, the network isn’t likely to actually pay the full amount.
Per Becker News, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who joined Fox News’ board of directors after leaving Congress, “has become quite influential with” the network’s leadership. The leaked document shows that “Ryan has been an influential force behind the network’s decision to move on from Donald Trump.”
“As a Board Member, Ryan believed that the period immediately following the 2020 Presidential Election ‘was a pretty important inflection point, not just for the company Fox, but for the country and for the conservative movement itself,’ and shared this ‘view as a fiduciary’ with Rupert and Lachlan,” the document notes, going on to cite an exhibit.
“Ryan told Rupert and Lachlan ‘that Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy theories,’” it noted further.
“On December 6 , 2020, Paul Ryan texted Rupert and Lachlan, telling them, we are entering a truly bizarre phase of this where [Trump] has actually convinced himself of this farce and will do more bizarre things to delegitimize the election,” the document says. “I see this as a key inflection point for Fox, where the right thing and the smart business thing to do line up nicely.”
“Ryan told Dias about his own conversation with Rupert and Lachlan, reporting he told them that ‘this is a huge inflection point to keep Trump down and move on for the future of the conservative movement.’ Ryan added: ‘Both Rupert and Lachlan agree fully. The key is to execute our collective will,'” the document added.
In the wake of the settlement, the network has parted ways with two major personalities — one of them Fox’s top-rated host.
The document leak comes amid a major shake-up at Fox News of on-air talent, including the departure of top-rated host Tucker Carlson, who regularly outpaced all other cable news hosts. And now, a new report has shed light on who made the final decision to cut ties with him.
The report claimed that Lachlan, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, and Suzanne Scott, chief executive of Fox News Media, decided on Friday night to fire Carlson. Scott informed Carlson on Monday morning of the decision.
“The power that Mr. Carlson, 53, wielded outside Fox News could not insulate him from a growing list of troubles inside the network related to his conduct on and off the air, some of which had been grating on Mr. Murdoch and his father, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, who co-founded the network in 1996, according to the two people with knowledge of the company’s decision,” the New York Times reported.
“The host, a polarizing and unpopular figure at the network outside of his own staff, was exposed as part of a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems as a bully who denigrated colleagues and sources, often in profane and sexist language and called for the firing of Fox journalists whose coverage he disliked. He has also drawn condemnation from the right and left for his role in fostering a revisionist account of the assault on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” the outlet added.
The NYT report then suggests Carlson’s segment detailing the riot at the Capitol was a “point of contention.”
