Thread by @MattGertz

Media Matters has obtained a copy of the latest Dominion filing, featuring Rupert Murdoch's deposition (and some light redactions from the court).

I will be tweeting out snippets in this thread as I read through it.

"When asked why Fox continues to give a
platform to Lindell—who continues to this day to spout lies about Dominion—
Murdoch agreed that 'It is not red or blue, it is green.'”

Rupert Murdoch acknowledged in his deposition that numerous Fox hosts had "endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election."

Rupert Murdoch gave Trump son-in-law/aide Jared Kushner access to "Fox confidential information about Biden's ads," apparently showing them to him before they were public.

Fox "Brand Protection Unit" head Raj Shah, a former Trump WH aide, warned another exec that the network would "get hit very hard by the right" if it called the presidency for Biden on Nov. 5.

At first, right after the election, from Rupert on down, Fox executives were trying to clamp down on election denial.

I really would like to know what is under this redaction about Fox calling the election for Biden, after which Rupert complains to Lachlan that "We should and could have gone first but at least being
second saves us a Trump explosion!”

Per the filing, on November 8, 2020, Rupert Murdoch met with Lachlan and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott about the "mounting viewer backlash to Fox," and embarked on a strategy that involved platforming election liars.

Kind of an aside but here's Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox military contributor, being a raving election truther in Rupert's inbox.

Fox board member Paul Ryan 'told Rupert and Lachlan “that Fox News should not be spreading conspiracy
theories.” '

Fox execs were carefully attuned to the brand polling Shah's team was doing in mid-November 2020, which showed "[p]ositive impressions of Fox News among our viewers dropped precipitously after Election Day to the lowest levels we’ve ever seen."

Lachlan Murdoch to Suzanne Scott on Fox's coverage of a November 14 pro-Trump rally -- "So far some of the side comments are slightly
anti, and they shouldn’t be. The narrative should be this is a huge celebration of the president."

Another Fox news-side person, this time Leland Vittert, getting chewed out by the Fox execs for not being pro-Trump enough.

Q. And you could have said to Suzanne Scott or to the hosts, “Stop putting Rudy Giuliani on the air”?

Rupert Murdoch. I could have. But I didn't.

On Jan. 5, 2021, Rupert and Smith discussed a joint statement from Hannity, Carlson, and Ingraham admitting that Biden won, to "stop the Trump myth that the election stolen." It didn't happen.

After Jan. 6, Rupert was telling people that Fox was "pivoting" away from Trump.

This... did not really happen.

In a Jan. 12 email, Rupert tells Paul Ryan the insurrection was a "Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.”

"Rupert testified,
with respect to the lies around the 2020 Presidential Election, that 'I would have
liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight."

Another interesting redaction -- is this Bartiromo alerting Trump to her initial Dominion segment?

Dominion tried to book a representative on Fox programs that pushed lies about the company but were declined.

(I'm now wading through the legalese portions which is why there are fewer tweets, I am not a lawyer so I won't try to parse any of this.)

Top Fox Corp lawyer Viet Dinh 'confirmed that responsibility for publication extends up
and down the chain of command, and those “with the power to exercise control” had “an obligation to” prevent guests from telling lies.'

But they knew, and they didn't.

Here we are, I've been waiting for this -- Fox's internal research department "fact-checked the allegations and debunked the charges" against Dominion, but Fox kept airing them.

Fox subsequently canned the "Brain Room" members.

As an example of Rupert Murdoch's direct influence over Fox News, Dominion's filing states that "When Trump presented a new tax bill, Rupert told Scott “we must tell our viewers again and again what they will get.”

Murdoch "urged" Dobbs' firing because he "was an extremist" -- but only well after the election, because he knew Dobbs had Trump's support and his dismissal could lead to viewers abandoning Fox.

!! per the filing, Rupert Murdoch suggested longtime Fox VP Bill Sammon's firing after the Arizona call as "a big message with Trump people."

Here's Rupert Murdoch asking Suzanne Scott to have Sean Hannity say something nice about Lindsey Graham because "We cannot lose the Senate if at all possible."

We?

Rupert Murdoch also encouraged Fox attacks on Republican WV Senate candidate Don Blankenship to "save the day," presumably by lifting Patrick Morrissey to victory in the primary.

Here he is saying he was dictating Fox's anti-Biden coverage in 2020.

"at his deposition, Lachlan could not recall a single
instance when FNN did not follow one of his suggestions"

Gonna put a pin in this intriguing request for Sean Hannity to "limit the charges of misinformation" before an unnamed congressional hearing...

OK that's it for now. You can read the whole thing here: cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8File/…

We have a list of revelations from the document here: mediamatters.org/fox-news/ruper…