Fox News CEO Called Trump Fact-Checking ‘Bad For Business,’ Email Shows

Topline

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott blasted the network’s fact-checking of then-President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims as “bad for business” in an email shortly after the 2020 presidential election, according to multiple reports, citing a court presentation from Dominion Voting Systems, which has portrayed Fox News as a network in turmoil after the election as it moves forward with its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.

Traffic on Sixth Avenue passes by advertisements featuring Fox News personalities, including Bret … [+] Baier, Martha MacCallum, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, in the front of the News Corporation building on March 13, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Key Facts

Scott reportedly told prime time programming executive Meade Cooper in an email dated December 2, 2020 that the fact-checking “has to stop now,” arguing the reporting showed “a lack of understanding” about what Fox News’ audience wanted.

The message came weeks after Scott privately said, “I can’t keep defending these reporters who don’t understand our viewers and how to handle stories”—blaming them for a loss of 25,000 Fox Nation streaming service subscribers.

Dominion Voting Systems reportedly showed the messages in a slideshow in court last week as an April 17 trial start date looms in its defamation case against Fox News—though both sides have pushed for resolving the lawsuit through a pretrial summary judgment.

A Fox News spokesperson admonished Dominion in a statement for a “continued reliance on cherry-picked quotes without context to generate headlines in order to distract from the facts of this case,” calling the lawsuit an attack on the free press.

Crucial Quote

“We can still fix this but we cannot smirk at our viewers any longer,” Scott reportedly wrote on November 19, 2020.

Surprising Fact

Dominion’s slideshow reportedly showed Tucker Carlson’s staff privately calling MyPillow founder and frequent guest Mike Lindell “crazy,” saying he had “gone off the deep end” by promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about election fraud. A message then defended Lindell appearing on the show since he was its “biggest advertiser.”

Key Background

Dominion, which operated voting machines in dozens of states in the 2020 election, filed the high-profile lawsuit in 2021, accusing Fox News of extensive damage to its brand through airing unfounded conspiracy theories suggesting the company’s voting machines were somehow rigged against Trump. Dominion has claimed popular prime time shows hosted by Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity were key to promoting conspiracy theories, even though the hosts were privately skeptical of Trump’s fraud claims. Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said in a January deposition he thought Fox News should have pushed back against the fraud claims more, saying, “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.” He also suggested letting Lindell run ads on the network was a financial move, rather than political, agreeing with the statement: “It is not red or blue—it is green.”

Tangent

Dominion released numerous text messages last month showing Fox News hosts mocking guests who pushed conspiracy theories, especially former Trump attorney Sidney Powell. Carlson said she was “insane” and “shockingly reckless” to promote Dominion fraud claims, while Ingraham labeled her a “complete nut.”