Last month, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a $787 million settlement, to avoid a trial in the $1.6 billion defamation case the electronic voting company had brought against the cable news company. In March of 2021 Dominion had brought a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News and its’ parent company Fox Corporation for defamation.
The voting systems company had accused the news outlet, of harming its reputation, by airing former President Donald Trump and his attorneys’ claims that Dominion’s voting machines were used to rig the 2020 election. Fox had denied the allegation.
At the time, Fox News had argued that Trump and his attorneys’ claims, were newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment’s right of freedom of the press. However, Dominion accused Fox News of airing such claims to save their falling ratings after the 2020 election.
However, in his post settlement statement, Dominion attorney Stephen Shackelford warned that the settlement with Fox is not the end of the company’s legal efforts to save its reputation. Strangely, he claimed -
“We’re not done yet. We have some other people who have some accountability coming toward them,”
- Stephen Shackelford, Dominion Voting Systems Attorney
Six days later, according to a report by Rolling Stone, Fox News, pulled Tucker Carlson of the air waves. The move has cost them hugely in their ratings. Curiously, they pulled Carlson off of the air, though they left him on contract through 2024. This is another move which has left Fox scrambling for some kind of cable credibility, with Carlson’s followers seeking him out and viewers asking why now?
Other questions remain – what was Rupert Murdoch thinking and whose idea was it to take their number one news commentator off the air, without notice to Carlson or it’s viewership over a single weekend? What connection was there to the Dominion suit? Was it that or something else - It all seemed too coincidental or was it?
Reportedly, Carlson’s attorneys sent Fox News a letter accusing the company of agreeing to fire Carlson, as part of its settlement with Dominion. However, the electronic voting company has continually denied playing any role in Carlson’s firing. Fox News has also said that reports about Dominion’s role in Carlson’s firing are “categorically false.”
Further, a Dominion spokesperson told the Daily Caller-
“As the Fox principals who negotiated the settlement well know, Dominion made no demands about Tucker Carlson’s employment orally or in writing,”… “Any claims otherwise are categorically false and a thinly veiled effort to further damage Dominion. Fox should take every effort to stop these lies immediately.”
-Dominion Voting Systems Spokesperson
Now on Friday, according to the report by Rolling Stone, Fox News, let go of its entire investigative unit, with more layoffs likely on the way. Again, this is occurring just one month after the cable news company settled with Dominion. As one staffer confirmed-
“Yes, [layoffs] have happened,”… “And continue to happen.”
-Fox News Staffer
It seems very strange, how these events have unfolded. The Dominion settlement prevents Fox News executives and hosts like, Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, from having to testify at trial about the networks coverage of the 2020 election. However, there is Carlson’s recently glaring coverage regarding the January 6th video which was obtained by Carlson and his “investigative staff” who he claimed spend days reviewing it.
That was just two months ago, a seemingly one-night event. What happened there and did it have something to do with all of this? Was Murdoch waiting for the Dominion case to settle to shift focus, without having to explain? Tuckers’ coverage of the event clearly demonstrated (with contrasts and comparisons) the Committee’s purported findings, and the reality of what the videos actually showed. What happened to the rest of the story?
Again, viewers have to ask – what is Fox’s parent company and Rupert Murdoch thinking? Was it the Dominion settlement or did the deep state have something to do with Tuckers exit from the air at Fox, or the reason for their entire investigative staff being furloughed? They did a great job – too good it looks like. Fox News is still not talking; however their ratings continue to speaking loud and clear.
In his video that follows, conservative, political commentator Dinesh D’Souza makes some interesting connections about the January 6th coverage that was halted, the Dominion suit, Fox News Corporation, the Murdoch family and the deep state - all as it relates to why Tucker Carlson might have been pulled from the airwaves and moreover why the investigative team has been let go. America deserves answers. Perhaps Fox News is not so “Fair and Balanced” as they claim. The truth is still coming.
Fox News has broken it’s viewership’s trust – no amount of side-stepping the issue, will change that. If they simply told the truth, it might go along way at this point.
“Most companies that go through layoffs are never the same. They don't recover because trust is broken. And if you're not honest at the point where you're breaking trust anyway, you will never recover.”
- Ben Horowitz