Donald Trump took to Truth Social and posted the following image with the caption below:
“Gee, Rupert Murdoch used to like me a lot when I was President!”
According to Deadline, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch compared CNN’s recent town hall with former President Donald Trump to Fox News’ post-2020 election coverage, which led to a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Murdoch made these comments at the MoffettNathanson Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference.
Murdoch stated that if CNN’s town hall with Trump was considered newsworthy in 2023, then it was also newsworthy in 2020 for Fox News to report on similar allegations made by the former president regarding the 2020 election. He emphasized that Fox News would have eventually won the Dominion Voting Systems case, despite the settlement.
In the Dominion Voting Systems case, Fox News was denied the ability to rely on a First Amendment defense and a defense based on newsworthiness. The judge, Eric Davis, removed these defenses in a summary judgment decision before the trial, stating they were not supported by case law.
“Last week, we can look at it factually, CNN had a town hall with the former president where he made a lot of allegations about the [2020] election,” Murdoch said at the MoffettNathanson Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference. “…If you believe that it was newsworthy to have a former president, also a candidate for the next presidential election, if you believe that was newsworthy in 2023, well certainly it was newsworthy in 2020 to report on similar allegations.”
Dominion Voting Systems had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, alleging that network personalities and executives amplified false election rigging claims made by Trump’s allies. The case was settled shortly after the jury selection process began, and Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp. executive chairman, was expected to testify.
Murdoch explained that settling the Dominion case was a difficult decision, but it was ultimately the right decision to avoid a prolonged legal battle that would have been costly and distracting to the company. He maintained that Fox News and its hosts did not engage in any defamation during that period.
Murdoch said that had the Dominion case gone forward, “we were going to be in a multi-year, prolonged legal battle, which we would ultimately win, but the distraction to the company, the distraction to our growth plans, our management, would have been extraordinarily costly, which is why we decided to settle.” He said that it was a “difficult decision to make but ultimately the right decision, because I don’t believe Fox News or any of our hosts engaged in any defamation the whole period.”
Fox News also faces another major lawsuit related to its 2020 coverage, this time from Smartmatic, another voting systems company. Additionally, the network recently parted ways with Tucker Carlson, the host of the top-rated primetime show, for reasons that Murdoch did not disclose but defended as being in the long-term interests of the Fox News brand and business.
While Fox News has seen a ratings dip in primetime since Carlson’s departure, the replacement show, Fox News Tonight, has generally won the time period in total viewers. However, on Monday, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show beat Fox News in primetime, primarily due to its once-a-week airing. The Five, aired at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News, remained the most-watched cable news show overall.
