CNN media reporter on Dominion filing: “These messages really just expose Fox News as a propaganda network. That's what they do at the core.”
Oliver Darcy: “They allowed these lies to take hold on the network's air.”
Published
Citation From the February 17, 2023, edition of CNN's This Morning
KAITLAN COLLINS (CNN ANCHOR): New this morning, some of the biggest stars and top executives at Fox News were privately making fun of former President Trump's claims about election fraud even as the network was allowing those lies to be promoted on air. That is according to damning messages in a new court filing that was out yesterday. The messages are included in Dominion's $1.6 billion dollar defamation lawsuit against Fox News. They show that Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham brutally mocked the 2020 election lies that Trump and his allies were pushing at the time. In one exchange, Carlson texted Ingraham saying that Sidney Powell, that attorney who was in and out of the Trump White House was quote, 'lying', and that he had, quote, 'caught her doing so'. Ingraham responded, 'Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy'. He continued, quote, 'our viewers are good people and they believe it.' Joining us now with his reporting on this lawsuit is CNN senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy. It's remarkable to see these text messages but also to have seen what was being said publicly. You know, I was covering the White House at that time to see how White House officials are watching to see what Fox was saying about the election.
OLIVER DARCY (CNN MEDIA REPORTER): I think these messages really just expose Fox News as a propaganda network. That's what they do at the core. I mean, they show in excruciating detail that the highest ranking executives at Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, Suzanne Scott the CEO, as well as some of the top hosts, like you just mentioned Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham -- they knew, they privately knew these election claim frauds -- fraud claims from the Trump team were nonsense. They used very harsh language to describe them. But they allowed these lies to take hold on the network's air. And they show, these messages show that the talents over at Fox News and the executives were very worried after the election of the audience rebelling, that they were going to Newsmax. You'll remember that Donald Trump was attacking Fox News saying 'turn the channel, go to this Newsmax channel' which is saturating the airwaves with election denialism. They were worried about this. And not only did they turn a blind eye to the election lies, but they even in some cases tried cracking down on those who were fact checking Trump. There is one case where White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, she fact checked Trump and Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity behind the scenes were talking about getting her fired. That's how lacking of basic journalistic ethics were at place at Fox News and these messages really expose it.