Dominion reveals excerpts from Rupert Murdoch’s testimony
The testimonies of Rupert Murdoch and Paul Ryan play an important role in Dominion’s recent court filing. (Photo by Murdoch via AP’s Mary Altaffer; Ryan via Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via AP)
News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch testified in a statement that any Fox News executive who knowingly allows lies to be spread should be “reprimanded” or fired, according to a new court filing.
“They should be reprimanded — they should be reprimanded, perhaps eliminated,” Murdoch said during a two-day testimony earlier this year.
Dominion Voting Systems, which has filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, claims unsealed communications show the network executives are doing just that. The network did this to discourage viewers of former President Donald Trump’s election lies from flocking to other right-wing networks like Newsmax and One America News, the lawsuit says.
In his testimony, Murdoch acknowledged that Trump’s vote-fraud allegations were “wild” – but added that, according to the filing, it would be “stupid” to upset the former president.
“He had a very large following and they were probably mostly Fox viewers so it would have been stupid,” Murdoch was quoted as saying of Trump.
Murdoch defended the network’s editorial decisions after the 2020 election.
“We cover the news and we have dozens of people on the channels every day talking about the news. And that was big news,” Murdoch said. “The President of the United States has made wild claims, but this is news.”
Dominion portrayed Murdoch as unapologetic about the network’s decisions to cover the aftermath of the election, although he acknowledged that “in hindsight he would have done things differently.”
“To this day, Rupert Murdoch and Fox refuse to apologize or retract for the lies Fox News spread about Dominion, although he admits that ‘I wish we had denounced it more in hindsight’ and that Fox presenters ‘endorsed’. the “misconception of a stolen election,” reads the conclusion of the glowing, 194-page executive summary. “Whether Fox’s misconduct and recalcitrance deserve punitive damages is a matter for the jury.”
Murdoch said he wished Trump would go in a different direction.
“I thought the election was real and it would be bad advice to promote it [Trump] being a bad loser,” he is quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, Dominion quoted a text message from Murdoch tearing up Rudy Giuliani’s press conference with conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell as “really crazy stuff.” That was the November 2020 conference where Giuliani appeared to be hitting hair dye It dripped in his face as he revealed his failed legal strategy to overturn former President Donald Trump’s election defeat in court.
Dominion’s latest document shows Murdoch as intimately involved in the network’s broadcast decisions, right down to his guests.
“Rupert testified that he probably told Fox News to ban certain guests from the show entirely, including ‘Trump adviser Bannon’ because Rupert ‘sees'[s] him as a marginal figure,” the file says.
The document also liberally quotes two other Fox Corp figures: director, former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and the network’s top attorney, Viet Dinh, a former senior Justice Department official from the George W. Bush era.
Dominion says Ryan texted Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch calling for “solid resistance” to Trump’s voter fraud allegations.
“[W]We’re entering a really bizarre phase of this where [Trump] actually convinced himself of this farce and will do other bizarre things to delegitimize the election,” Ryan reportedly wrote in the statement. “I see this as an important inflection point for Fox, where the right and the smart in business come together nicely.”
Ryan urged Fox to “provide a solid pushback (including editorial) from [Trump’s] unfounded calls to overthrow voters.”
Dominion claims Lachlan Murdoch disregarded the advice.
When asked about conspiracy theories about Dominion, Dinh also said that “he didn’t believe” and was “skeptical of this claim,” according to the document.
Fox News hit back with its own 164-page opposition letter attempting to dismiss the case by summary judgment.
“Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will make headlines than what will stand up to legal and factual scrutiny. ‘ the network said in a statement. “Her motion for summary judgment took an extreme, unsupported view of the defamation law that would bar journalists from basic reporting, and her efforts to publicly defame FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States be recognized for what they are: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.”
In his filing, Fox calls it “undeniable” that Trump’s allegations were newsworthy.
“Under Dominion’s approach, if the president falsely accused the vice president of plotting to assassinate him, the press would be responsible for reporting the newsworthy allegation so long as someone on the editorial board found it ridiculous,” reads the message from the sender. “Such a rule would stop the media.”
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https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/dominion-bombshells-reveal-how-rupert-murdoch-paul-ryan-and-foxs-top-lawyer-secretly-reacted-to-trumps-wild-election-claims/ Dominion reveals excerpts from Rupert Murdoch’s testimony
