Irish Examiner view: No clearer example than this

Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that Fox News wrongly endorsed the Donald Trump lie about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him. Picture: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File

The admission by the Fox News owner, billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, that the US network wrongly endorsed the Donald Trump lie about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him will send chills down the spine of any right-minded journalist or broadcaster.

Murdoch made the admission under oath during a deposition in the $1.6bn defamation action taken by Dominion Voting Systems against his network, accusing Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, of maligning its reputation.

He said in the deposition that Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo had “endorsed” Trump’s false narrative and noted that he would “have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight”.

While most observers at the time were puzzled by Fox News’ strident support for Trump’s wild claims, it now appears the network’s presenters privately ridiculed them, but promoted them while live on air.

Murdoch also admitted he should personally have ordered the network not to “platform” outrageous claims being made by lawyers on Trump’s behalf, saying: “I could have but I didn’t.” 

We are all at one when it comes to press freedoms, but when those freedoms are so clearly abused in order to mollify an obviously defeated politician then we move into the realm of authoritarian control of media outlets and their coverage of events. 

That Fox was merely kowtowing to Trump’s so-called base and was afraid of losing viewers and revenue by manipulating facts and sowing discontent is an incredible admission, especially in light of the events of January 6, 2021.

The network argued that its coverage of Trump and his legal team was inherently newsworthy, but that does not cover its tracks, especially when most of the management and personnel at Fox News knew the claims to be patently false. 

The former president coined the phrase ‘fake news’; there could be no clearer an example of fake news than this.