According to RadarOnline, in the aftermath of the $787.5 million defamation settlement between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News, one critic has predicted that Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro may be fired from the network. The prediction comes as Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch seeks to reduce the network’s vulnerability following the settlement.
Dylan Byers, founder of Puck and a Fox News critic, suggested that if the two reporters are not fired, they will be warned to exercise caution in their future reporting. Byers also cited Murdoch’s deposition, in which he suggested that the network’s commentators, not the network itself, endorsed false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
Byers speculated that Bartiromo may be particularly vulnerable, given Murdoch’s comments, and the fact that she and Pirro believed the false voter fraud claims that were promoted by Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Fox News lawyers had reportedly been preparing to argue that neither Bartiromo nor Pirro had committed libel because they actually believed the voter fraud claims.
However, according to Byers, this belief may not be enough to prevent future legal issues for Fox News. He argued that having reporters who believe false claims on camera is not the best way to avoid future libel lawsuits. As a result, Byers predicted that Murdoch and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott may decide to eventually let Bartiromo and/or Pirro go, in order to reduce the network’s legal exposure.
