Rupert Murdoch is in the headlines again, this time because of a lawsuit over Fox News's coverage of the 2020 election. This isn't the first time Murdoch's media empire has come under scrutiny. In fact, it's not even the only legal battle happening right now.
Who is he? Rupert Murdoch is a media magnate and the Fox News Channel's controlling owner (as well as one of the inspirations for the protagonist in HBO's Succession).
What's the big deal? Murdoch is known to be a hands-on proprietor of his news outlets. Now a blockbuster lawsuit is confronting him with the consequences of some key decisions taken by leaders of Fox News.
- Voting-tech company Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News and parent company Fox Corp. for defamation, seeking $1.6 billion, claiming that the network broadcast baseless allegations of election fraud in the 2020 elections.
- In evidence presented on Monday by Dominion, Murdoch admitted that he knew hosts and guests on Fox News were endorsing lies from then-President Donald Trump, and that he chose not to take action to stop it. For its part, Fox Corp. is arguing that the parent company and its top executives are wrongly being held responsible for reporting on comments made by a sitting president.
- Murdoch has been called to answer for the practices of his media outlets before. News of the World — at one point a flagship tabloid paper for the Murdoch empire in the U.K — was the subject of scandal back in 2011 for reporting tactics that included hacking into people's phones. The paper shut down and Murdoch was brought before a British parliamentary inquiry, where he declared it "the most humble day of my life."
Want more journalism on politics? Listen to the Consider This episode on the State Of The Union and a house narrowly divided
What else is going on right now?
- Another Murdoch-centered defamation suit is currently underway in Australia — but with roles reversed. In that case, one of Murdoch's sons, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp. Lachlan Murdoch, is suing an online publisher in Australia for defamation over a June 2022 article that referred to the Murdoch family as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the Jan. 6 insurrection. 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.
- 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. He has taken particular aim at the influence of the Murdoch media, and called Rupert Murdoch a threat to democracy.
The Murdoch smear of our petition calling for a Royal Commission continues. #MurdochRoyalCommission pic.twitter.com/M4ZNypmjfo
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) November 18, 2020
What are people saying?
Another former Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told NPR last year that Murdoch and his media outlets "meddle in politics very directly":
"[Rupert Murdoch] is responsible for Fox News. Fox News has played, by far, the largest single part in the polarization of American politics, in the amplification of political hatred. I would challenge anyone ... to nominate which individual alive today has done more to undermine American democracy than Rupert Murdoch."
In a statement to NPR, a spokesman for the Fox Corp. and Fox News said the Dominion lawsuit was more about generating headlines than what "can withstand legal and factual scrutiny":
"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."
So, what now?
- The Dominion/Fox News lawsuit is slated to go to a jury trial in April.
- Another voting-tech company, Smartmatic, is also suing Fox, but that suit is not as far along as Dominion's.
- Lachlan Murdoch's defamation case against the Australian publisher also continues, and lawyers for the outlet are assessing whether the Dominion case could affect it. The trial is set for October.
Learn more:
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Dig into the evidence Dominion has presented in court.
- Read about how off the air, Fox News stars blasted the election fraud claims they peddled.
