Rupert Murdoch

Lawyers consider implications of patriarch's testimony as they prepare to fight defamation suit brought by Lachlan Murdoch.

“Public interest defence in Australia, though, will turn on the reasonableness of the publisher’s belief in the publication of the article. Both cases revolve around the influence of Fox News commentators on the US Capitol attack. [earlier revealed](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/17/fox-news-hosts-dominion-lawsuit-trump-election-fraud-tucker-carlson-sean-hannity-laura-ingraham) in court filings that hosts at Fox News privately ridiculed Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen while simultaneously peddling the same lies on air. But I didn’t,” he said. [Fox News](https://www.theguardian.com/media/fox-news) commentators were the unindicted co-conspirators” in the events of 6 January 2021. [admission by Rupert Murdoch](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/27/rupert-murdoch-deposition-dominion-lawsuit-fox-news) that Fox News hosts endorsed Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 US election was stolen.

Murdoch admitted Fox News hosts had endorsed on air the view that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump in deposition excerpts from a defamation suit.

[Jared Kushner](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/jared-kushner) [Trump's son-in-law] called me saying 'this is terrible,' and I could hear Trump's voice in the background shouting," Murdoch said. Murdoch declined to admit [Tucker Carlson](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/tucker-carlson) had endorsed the stolen election theory, the court documents show. "One after the other, he's copping to—what creates liability—that they knowingly lie even though the whole corporation knows that it's phony, but somehow trying to preserve a little bit of credibility for Fox itself," he said. They also argue that Murdoch engaged in the editorial process, quoting him as saying: "I'm a journalist at heart. But I didn't." Deposition excerpts show Fox chiefs agreeing that those in management had an obligation to prevent falsehoods from being aired. The latest evidence to emerge places mounting pressure on Fox's defense. In a transcript of Murdoch's deposition, he was asked whether he agreed that Fox "endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election." Trump has continued to claim, without evidence, that he was the victim of election fraud. deputy assistant attorney general under [Lou Dobbs](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/lou-dobbs) had endorsed the view "a lot," and [Sean Hannity](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/sean-hannity) "a bit," also naming [Jeanine Pirro](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/jeanine-pirro). [Donald Trump](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/donald-trump) and his allies that the [election had been stolen](https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-lawyer-christina-bobb-urges-him-not-let-go-2020-election-future-investigation-1777679).

Deposition shows Fox boss admitted hosts "endorsed" false claims and welcomed conspiracists for profit.

But in the filing, the lawyer says that Fox News did not endorse," he added. "It is remarkable to me that in the filing, you have Rupert Murdoch saying that he realizes that his own anchors endorsed the false story. "And to the extent some hosts commented on the allegations, that commentary is independently protected opinion." Dominion would have to show that the network acted with "actual malice" to prove their defamation case. But gosh, I mean, these documents show that they are a pretty long way to getting there," he told And I think that Rupert Murdoch's deposition, which was unsealed yesterday, concedes that." "I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight," he said in the deposition. "I'm a journalist at heart," he said in the deposition. We have to lead our viewers which is [] not as easy as it might seem." "[T]his was big news," Murdoch said in his deposition. ... We want to make Trump a non person," Murdoch told an executive on Jan. At one point in the deposition, Murdoch said he declined to tell the network to stop airing ads from MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, an avid election conspiracy theorist.

'Some of our commentators were endorsing it. I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,' he said.

[Lead With Influence](https://www.poynter.org/shop/leadership/lead-with-influence-july-2023/?mktsource=TPR)(July 2023) (Seminar) — [Apply by June 2](https://www.poynter.org/shop/leadership/lead-with-influence-july-2023/?mktsource=TPR). [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/4251752/2023/02/25/jeff-bezos-washington-commanders-sale/) and the [New York Post](https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/jeff-bezos-benched-from-washington-commanders-sale-as-bids-come-up-short-sources/) both reported that current Commanders owner Daniel Snyder is blocking Bezos from making a bid. [Subscribe](https://www.poynter.org/opentabs/)to Poynter’s Friday newsletter, [Open Tabs](https://www.poynter.org/opentabs/?mktsource=tpr)with Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme, and get behind-the-scenes stories only available to subscribers. [The Athletic’s Ben Standig and Daniel Kaplan wrote](https://theathletic.com/4251752/2023/02/25/jeff-bezos-washington-commanders-sale/), “… “They want ears and they want eyes and they got all of the above. Klein wrote, “The most recent clash at the Times is playing out as a kind of Rorschach test, seeming to buttress, or even confirm, one’s perspective on where the paper is going off course. And yet a week later, the newsroom would be embroiled in debates over objectivity and ‘activism,’ as criticism of the paper’s coverage of transgender issues sparked a series of exchanges involving Times leaders, staffers, contributors, and the paper’s union. However, in the case of Adams, our vision and principles are not compatible.” I see this as a key inflection point for Fox, where the right thing and the smart business thing to do line up nicely.” Recent comments by Scott Adams regarding race and race relations do not align with our core values as a company.” Murdoch, however, denied that the network itself endorsed such claims, and mentioned how Fox News was the first to call Arizona for Joe Biden — a key state in swinging the election in Biden’s favor. In a statement on Monday, Fox News said, “Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims.

Fox boss Rupert Murdoch said in a deposition under oath that any Fox News executives who knowingly allowed lies to be broadcast on the air "should ...

The text was in response to a Dec. "My friend Jared Kushner called me saying, 'This is terrible,' and I could hear Trump's voice in the background shouting," Murdoch said in his deposition, according to the filing. Mitch McConnell shortly after the election that Murdoch had "urged him to ask other senior Republicans to refuse to endorse Mr. Murdoch also said it was "probably true" that during a call with Sen. "Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment." "Fox News very busy pivoting ...

Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, has admitted under oath that many hosts on his network “endorsed” Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 election. Murdoch also admitted it was “wrong” for Fox to keep interviewing pro-Trump conspiracy ...

Like, they — they treated her like she’s trash.” Tim Boylan: “I can’t even wrap my head around it. So we need you to help us.”

In new filings as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some ...

Dominion sued Fox, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its on-air personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors of the company’s TV networks endorsed false fraud claims in the months following the 2020 election. During Murdoch’s deposition, when asked if he was “now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election,” Murdoch responded, “Not Fox, no.

The Fox News founder told GOP former House Speaker Paul Ryan why Hannity didn't push back on the former president, according to new court documents.

Murdoch admitted his hosts endorsed stolen-election claims. But how significant is that acknowledgment to Dominion's defamation lawsuit?

It seems Fox has decided it can no longer quibble with the idea that its hosts were irresponsible. The hosts were clearly happy to indulge them — for reasons that have This is certainly journalistic malpractice, at the least — which Murdoch has effectively acknowledged. 26, 2021, “to repeat those allegations against Dominion” if Carlson “didn’t contest it.” ( They repeatedly cited the idea that this is what their viewers wanted. One is that it’s not clear Murdoch technically granted that all the stolen-election claims were false and that the hosts knew or should have known better — though he didn’t take issue with the Dominion lawyer’s use of the f-word and acknowledged Fox fell short by airing such claims. There is no question that Fox aired such claims about Dominion — and credulously so. But you and I do, as we should, because 73 million Americans voted for Donald Trump.” Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, was also one of its chief promoters, even encouraging the electronic voting companies to sue him over it. But it still afforded them a platform and even rebuked employees who fact-checked or undercut the claims, because it viewed the audience as abhorring such pushback. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dominion’s filing treats this acknowledgment as significant, pointing to it early in its filing. chairman Rupert Murdoch expressed regret for his hosts airing false claims about a stolen election.

A recent filing in Dominion's $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network spotlights problematic editorial decisions that came from the very top.

[filing](https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/redacted-documents-in-dominion-fox-news-case/dca5e3880422426f/full.pdf) last week [detailed](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit) how Fox News executives and stars privately mocked the pro-Trump claims but continued to give them a platform, Dominion argues, in the hopes of juicing ratings and profit. New information presented in Dominion’s filing on Monday seemed to bolster their case, including that Fox [The American West](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-right-civil-war?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-022723) Fox News, for its part, has attempted to paint Dominion's legal offensive as both specious and legally wrongheaded. But I didn’t,” he replied. “I could have.

An explosive new filing in the Dominion lawsuit shows that the News Corp head knew the ex-president's 2020 claims were false but kept peddling them to keep ...

*/ /* The Five, its afternoon, men-inclusive, less-serious version of The View, was discussing the declining market for… There is MASSIVE evidence of voter fraud & irregularities in the 2020 Presidential Election.” He called Ryan a “loser.” If he had an ounce of integrity, he’d never have joined; if he had a grain of it, he’d have left the board in 2020. In 2010, almost 13 years ago, I wrote in Murdoch did e-mail Ryan that the January 6 violence could be a “wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.” “Fox was instrumental in maneuvering Powell both into the Trump campaign and then out of it,” Dominion’s lawyers said. The Fox trio said nothing. Scott told Rupert that privately they are all there but [“]we need to be careful about using the shows and pissing off the viewers.[”]… Specifically, the red-blue-green quote came after he was asked by Dominion lawyers why he continued to give a platform to Mike Lindell, purveyor of lies about election fraud and lumpy pillows. That single sentence sums up Rupert Murdoch’s craven approach to pushing Donald Trump’s election lies, documented in the bombshell new filing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News.

On both sides of the Atlantic, Rupert Murdoch's news empire is built on a hate-for-profit business model — engaging in migrant bashing, election denial, ...

Murdoch poses a threat to democracy in the United States and the United Kingdom. This is the same paper, after all, that is currently [under investigation](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/jeremy-clarkson-investigation-article-the-sun-b2279546.html) for a particularly nasty column targeting biracial duchess Meghan Markle. The result is mass confusion and polarization, with dire consequences for democracy. In addition to being protected by powerful political allies with whom they curry favor, the Murdoch family is also protected by nearly $22 billion. [embroiled](https://www.cjr.org/opinion/what-the-dominion-lawsuit-reveals-about-the-future-of-fox-news.php) in an defamation lawsuit for [knowingly spreading](https://jacobin.com/2023/02/fox-news-2020-election-fraud-donald-trump-tucker-carlson) falsehoods regarding the 2020 election. If you’ve noticed an uptick in contentious gay- and trans-related culture war discourse, Carlson and company are the ones driving the wedge — and they’re doing it on behalf of Murdoch and his bottom line. [scapegoating](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21284539/rishi-immigration-policy-destroy-labour-boat-crossing/) of desperate migrants. [launched](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/22/mehdi-hasan-interview-trump-biden-fox-news-msnbc) a broadside against Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. Their lack of credibility has never been so apparent, revealing Fox News model as a cynical hate-for-profit machine that intentionally spreads lies and stokes divisions to retain viewers and preserve ratings. As faith in news institutions plummets, the need for a fair and free press has never been so vital. Over in the UK, media watchdogs have their own axe to grind with Murdoch. Britain’s refugee crisis has exposed the Conservative government’s moral bankruptcy, as its ministers double down on using far-right rhetoric to placate a predominantly right-wing media.

Media mogul's admission in Dominion Systems election case that he let cable network broadcast falsehoods stuns observers.

“It opens the door to litigation from shareholders, given that their own board member tried to stop this.” “He thought he was untouchable.” RonNell Andersen Jones, a media law professor at the University of Utah, said that the deposition could prove highly damaging in the ongoing Dominion case. Murdoch tried to make a distinction between the hosts – “commentators” he called them – who were making false claims of election fraud and Fox itself. The depositions revealed that Ryan had implored Murdoch to “move on from Donald Trump and stop spouting election lies”. “It’s a license to print money,” he said. The word “endorsed” in Murdoch’s deposition could be critical. We are going to see a migration now of Fox News viewers to even further-right outlets like Newsmax and OANN.” “It is stunning, as it not only exposes a lot about how Fox works, it opens them up to potentially cascading litigation and liability.” “They admittedly engaged in fraud and lied to their audience.” “This is so profoundly cynical, and deeply corrosive to the role of the largest cable news network in the country,” Wilson remarked. Media and legal experts told the Guardian that, partly as a result of his stunning testimony, Murdoch can now expect potentially severe injury to both.

Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News Network and its parent, Fox Corp., for $1.6 billion for what Dominion asserts was defamation.

Dominion attorneys contend that executives in the "chain of command" at both Fox News and Fox Corp. "Dominion repeatedly asked Fox News executives, hosts, and staff whether Fox Corporation employees played a role in the publication of the statements it challenges," they wrote. The "handful of selective quotes" cited by Dominion have nothing to do with the statements that Dominion has challenged as defamatory, according to Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that some Fox News commentators endorsed the false allegations by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that he didn't step in to stop them from promoting the claims, according to excerpts of a deposition unsealed Monday. Murdoch urged in September 2020, weeks before the election, that Dobbs be fired because he was "an extremist," according to Dominion's court filing. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol disclosed that many of Trump's top advisers repeatedly warned him that the allegations he was making about fraud were false - and yet the president continued making the claims.

In a defamation lawsuit, Mr Murdoch conceded some Fox hosts had "endorsed" baseless claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen by voter fraud. On social ...

He said that he had told Mr Kushner he could not change the outcome for Mr Trump because "the numbers are the numbers". After Fox was first to declare that Mr Biden had won the pivotal state of Arizona, Mr Murdoch said: "My friend Jared Kushner called me saying, 'This is terrible,' and I could hear Trump's voice in the background shouting". On Monday, a legal filing revealed that Mr Murdoch had told lawyers in the Dominion case that he did not believe Mr Trump's allegations of mass voter fraud and that he thought Fox News should have been "stronger in denouncing" them.

According to a new court filing, the Fox News owner passed “confidential information” about Joe Biden's campaign to the then first son-in-law and ...

“Well, the numbers are the numbers.” [The American West](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-right-civil-war?itm_content=footer-recirc&itm_campaign=more-great-stories-022723) During his under-oath deposition, Murdoch said that Kushner called him on election night about the network’s coverage and, with Trump in the background “shouting,” told him, “This is terrible.” Murdoch’s response? As a reminder, though, the organization in question purports to be in the “news” business. [bury](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/rupert-murdoch-donald-trump-arizona-2020) Trump’s 2020 election dreams in a shallow grave and subsequently [dump the ex-president for a younger model](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/donald-trump-midterms-fox-news-rupert-nyp-wsj-rupert-murdoch). And, as we learned late last night, the Australian media mogul was willing to go to great, wildly unethical lengths to keep Trump in power until the very end.

Rupert Murdoch is in the headlines again, this time because of a lawsuit over Fox News' coverage of the 2020 election. It's not the only legal battle ...

[suing an online publisher in Australia](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-30/lachlan-murdoch-claims-crikey-benefited-from-defamation-case/101906200)for defamation over a June 2022 article that referred to the Murdoch family as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the Jan. Fox News has played, by far, the largest single part in the polarization of American politics, in the amplification of political hatred. The trial is set for October. and Fox News said the Dominion lawsuit was more about generating headlines than what "can withstand legal and factual scrutiny": - Meanwhile, former Australian prime minister and the newly appointed ambassador to the U.S., Kevin Rudd, has spent the last two years lobbying for an inquiry into media diversity in Australia. Lachlan Murdoch filed the suit the day after the news site paid for an advertisement in The New York Times challenging him to do so, so that it could use the case to test Australia's defamation laws. - Murdoch has been called to answer for the practices of his media outlets before. Murdoch is known to be a hands-on proprietor of his news outlets. In that case, one of Murdoch's sons, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp. For its part, Fox Corp. This isn't the first time Murdoch's media empire has come under scrutiny. [were endorsing lies from then-President Donald Trump, and that he chose not to take action to stop it](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/28/1159819849/fox-news-dominion-voting-rupert-murdoch-2020-election-fraud).