#jay wallace

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Texts reveal Fox News hacks knew they were pushing 'crap' election lies

Private text messages exchanged between Fox News stars have shed light on the network’s decision to air and promote election conspiracies th

Oliver Willis at Daily Kos:

Private text messages exchanged between Fox News stars have shed light on the network’s decision to air and promote election conspiracies they knew were false. The messages were published on Wednesday as part of court filings in voting services provider Smartmatic’s ongoing suit against Fox News. Smartmatic sued Fox for airing false allegations that the company helped former President Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

The newly released documents show Fox News’ top talent discussing internal decisions about airing the election lies as well as infighting among network personalities about coverage. In one exchange Jesse Watters, host of “Jesse Watters Primetime” and a panelist on “The Five,” sent a message to fellow Fox host Greg Gutfeld remarking, “Think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.”

“Stop the steal” was the rallying cry used by election conspiracy theorists. On the day he instigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Trump spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington. [...]

Fox News aired falsehood after falsehood about Smartmatic in the days after the election. The network’s talking heads overstated how much the company’s machines were used and attempted to implicate the provider in “vote flipping” allegations. Fox News hosts and reporters also pushed fake allegations that Smartmatic machines were sent to foreign countries for vote counting and that the company was responsible for election fraud.

The network made similar allegations about Dominion Voting Systems and eventually paid out nearly $800 million in a settlement for hurting the company’s brand. Newsmax, a fellow right-wing “news” network, has paid out settlements to Dominion and Smartmatic over similar election lies in service of Trump.

The newly released documents in Smartmatic’s case against right-wing propaganda outlet Fox “News” reveal very disturbing things, including texts about how to air election denialist propaganda even though they knew such content was a lie.

See Also:

HuffPost: Texts Show Jeanine Pirro Gloating About Aiding Trump Campaign While Working At Fox

MMFA: Eight damning new revelations about Fox’s 2020 election lies from the Smartmatic filings

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Fox News does not have an independent decision desk

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

Fox News depicts the “decision desk” that calls elections for the network as an independent, data-driven body cordoned off from its right-wing propaganda machine. But the 2020 presidential election showed that this independence is a fiction: Top Fox executives are willing and able to overrule those calls if they think the results would anger Donald Trump and Fox viewers.   With the entire right-wing apparatus — including Fox figures — framing any potential Trump loss in November as a result of fraud, that scenario could easily repeat this fall.

The New York Times interviewed Fox decision desk overseer Arnon Mishkin for a Wednesday article on how outlets are “preparing to make calls in a very tight race — and ensure that viewers and readers believe them.” Mishkin said “that he and his team would be siloed off in a room inside network headquarters, and that he had no concerns about outside interference.”

“One hundred percent of the job is to look at the numbers,” Mishkin told the Times. “Just look at the numbers and report out what the numbers are saying.” But the 2020 election showed that between Mishkin’s team reporting “what the numbers are saying” and Fox anchors presenting that information to the public, the network’s executives can step in to overrule the calls.

Fox’s election night call of Arizona for Joe Biden was controversial, the Times noted, angering Trump and ultimately triggering the exits of decision desk leaders Chris Stirewalt and Bill Sammon. As Fox viewers revolted following that call, the network went into overdrive pushing Trumpian lies about election fraud swinging the results — which its executives and stars didn’t actually believe — and eventually triggering a massive defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. But the Times stressed that Fox refused to bow to Trump campaign demands that the network rescind its Arizona call, while leaving out the network’s subsequent decision — pushed by its top executives and “straight news” anchors — to slow-walk future calls if they might similarly anger viewers. 

Fox president and executive editor Jay Wallace “overruled the Decision Desk team including Bill Sammon, Arnon Mishkin, and Chris Stirewalt, refusing to let them call Nevada for Biden even after other networks did, a level of interference that had been unheard of in past elections,” Peter Baker and Susan Glasser reported in their 2022 book, The Divider.  Wallace’s reason for overruling Mishkin and company had nothing to do with “the numbers,” according to Baker and Glasser. “Because of the Arizona projection, calling Nevada would give Biden enough electoral votes for victory,” they wrote. “Wallace did not want Fox to be the first to call the election and declare Biden president-elect.” Fox CEO Suzanne Scott had wanted to go even further, Baker and Glasser reported, suggesting the morning after the election “that Fox should not call any more states until they were officially certified,” an unheard-of process that could take weeks. Fox “straight news” anchors Martha MacCallum and especially Bret Baier emerged in post-election reporting as key figures who sought to stymie the decision desk’s calls.

GOP propaganda organ Fox “News” doesn’t have an independent decision desk free of interference, as Fox decision desk head Arnon Mishkin admitted that he and his team would be siloed off.

In 2020, after the channel’s decision desk made a controversial call to put Arizona in Joe Biden’s column, executives put a stop to calling any further states just so Fox couldn’t be the first to put Biden over 270 with a call of Nevada and that any future calls be based on viewer support.

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Here are the Fox News executives Rupert Murdoch needs to fire, according to and starting with Rupert Murdoch

Eric Kleefeld at MMFA: 

The recently released legal filing in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News shows the extent to which multiple Fox executives and anchors knew that the network was pushing lies about the 2020 presidential election results on air. The filing also contains a startling statement by Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch: that Fox News executives who knowingly allowed lies to be broadcast should potentially be fired. From the filing (emphasis in original):

“Q. What should the consequences be when Fox News executives knowingly allow lies to be broadcast? A. They should be reprimanded – They should be reprimanded, maybe got rid of. Rupert Murdoch, Chairman, Fox Corporation.”

The filings also show the extent to which Fox executives knowingly spread the conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged the election at least in part in order to keep up with its far-right media competitors. These decisions now leave multiple Fox executives implicated as potentially worthy of firing, according to Rupert Murdoch’s own declared standard.

The Dominion v. Fox News filings revealed that Rupert Murdoch called for Fox Corporations execs to be fired or reprimanded for knowingly allowing lies about the 2020 election to be aired. Under his own call, he should be one of those ran out. 

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Fox News Anchors Advised To Quarantine After Coronavirus Exposure: Report

Several on-air personalities and the Fox News president shared a private flight with a passenger who later tested positive for COVID-19.

Ron Dicker at HuffPost:

The Fox News president and several on-air personalities have been advised to quarantine after sharing a private plane with someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Chief political anchor Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum of “The Story” and “The Five” hosts Dana Perino and Juan Williams were exposed, along with Fox News President Jay Wallace, the Times noted, citing sources “with direct knowledge of the situation.”

The infected passenger shared a charter flight with executives, reporters and other crew from the conservative news channel to New York from Nashville, Tennessee, after last week’s presidential debate.

The anchors are “expected” to broadcast from home for now, according to the report.

Chris Wallace, the moderator of the first debate, was among several network employees who were tested for COVID-19 after President Donald Trump contracted the virus, The Hill noted.

Baier and MacCallum are scheduled to lead the channel’s election night coverage from its Manhattan headquarters, according to The Hollywood Reporter.