The newly released private messages of Fox News stars Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, and others prove what many on the left have argued for years: that Fox is an entertainment network, not a news network.
The text messages and depositions, revealed in a Feb. 16 legal filing, unequivocally show that the network lied to its viewers for better ratings. What’s more, the gulf between what Fox stars said privately and what they broadcast out adds to the growing evidence that the on-air personas of many right-wing stars are largely an act.
The messages were made public in a court filing by Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox for $1.6 billion in a defamation suit. Dominion claims that Fox committed libel by airing segments centered around the company rigging the election for President Joe Biden. The filings expose two key things: that Fox executives knew Donald Trump’s stolen election claims were false while the network continued to push those claims; and they knew that reporting the truth would hurt ratings.
