Murdoch ‘never believed’ Fox News election claims
February 17, 2023
Rupert Murdoch described allegations that the 2020 US election was stolen as “damaging” and “crazy” even though his Fox News continued to air the claims, according to depositions in the defamation lawsuit against the network by Dominion, the voting machine company.
Apparently, Murdoch repeatedly emailed his concerns to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott. Those messages are in a court filing asking a Delaware judge to rule in its favour on a $1.6 billion defamation claim brought against Fox.
In one email, with the subject line “Watching Giuliani!” Murdoch wrote: “Really crazy stuff. And damaging,” describing the election fraud claims of Rudi Giuliani, Donald Trump’s then lawyer.
Fox News said in a statement responding to the filing: “There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v Sullivan.”