Schumer and Jeffries Formally Ask Rupert Murdoch to ‘Make Sure Fox News Stops Disseminating the Big Lie’
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch, demanding that he order Fox News to stop advancing 2020 election conspiracies, and have the network publicly admit it was wrong of them to do so.
The two top Congressional Democrats sent out the letter to Murdoch on Wednesday, which was also addressed to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News Media President Jay Wallace. The letter calls Murdoch out for admitting Fox News personalities pushed election lies, plus it refers to the other shocking revelations from the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit the network faces from Dominion Voting Systems.
“The leadership of your company was aware of the dangers of broadcasting these outlandish claims,” the letter states. “By your own account, Donald Trump’s election lies were ‘damaging’ and ‘really crazy stuff.’ Despite that shocking admission, Fox News hosts have continued to peddle election denialism to the American people. This sets a dangerous precedent that ignores basic journalistic fact-checking principles and public accountability.”
The letter accuses Fox News of continuing to promote 2020 election lies, even after Murdoch expressed regret that the network’s top hosts didn’t do more to denounce them. Schumer and Jeffries also used the letter to express their concerns with Speaker Kevin McCarthy allowing Tucker Carlson to review Capitol riot footage despite the Fox host’s constant dishonesty about January 6th.
From the letter:
We demand that you direct Tucker Carlson and other hosts on your network to stop spreading false election narratives and admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior.
As evidenced by the January 6 insurrection, spreading this false propaganda could not only embolden supporters of the Big Lie to engage in further acts of political violence, but also deeply and broadly weakens faith in our democracy and hurts our country in countless other ways.
Fox News executives and all other hosts on your network have a clear choice. You can continue a pattern of lying to your viewers and risking democracy or move beyond this damaging chapter in your company’s history by siding with the truth and reporting the facts. We ask that you make sure Fox News ceases disseminating the Big Lie and other election conspiracy theories on your network.
A Fox News spokesperson offered this statement with regard to the revelations from the Dominion filings
Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims. Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.
