Trying to Get Fox to Do the Right Thing

 Former Fox executive Preston Padden at The Daily Beast:

In a months-long series of email exchanges, I tried to get Rupert to stop the false news on Fox News Channel. Without my knowledge, Fox produced those emails as part of discovery in the Dominion case. I would not otherwise share them here.

On Jan. 5, without a clue what would happen the next day, I sent Rupert the following email

It would be a great service to the Country that I know you love, and to the party, to record and saturate a spot with Sean, Tucker, Laura, etc. saying something like: ‘We will never stop fighting for Freedom and the American way of life and against extreme liberal policies. While we are frustrated just like you are, the facts are that President Trump and his lawyers have not produced any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the fact that Joe Biden was elected President on November 3. All of us at Fox will work tirelessly for you and to serve as a watchdog on the Biden Administration. Meanwhile, please wear a mask and get vaccinated so that we can crush the virus.’

I knew from earlier email exchanges that Rupert did not believe that the election had been stolen. This was his response:

“I’ll think about it. Perhaps something like that in a few days!”

From the finding below in Judge Davis’ Order we know that Rupert followed up on my suggestion on the same day:

On January 5, 2021, Rupert Murdoch emailed Ms. Scott [CEO of FNC] that it was suggested the ‘prime time three should independently or together say something like “the election is over and Joe Biden won.”’ Ms. Scott forwarded it to Ms. Cooper and said, ‘I told Rupert privately they are all there—we need to be careful about using the shows and pissing off the viewers but they know how to navigate.’

To my knowledge, no such statement ever was telecast.