Dominion Lawsuit Showcases Paul Ryan’s Influence over Fox News Channel’s Editorial ControlHannah Bleau 28 Feb 2023
Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News highlights former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s alleged influence over Fox News Channel’s (FNC) editorial control, reportedly urging the network to move away from former President Donald Trump.
Dominion filed the lawsuit months after the 2020 presidential election, asserting that FNC essentially suggested that Dominion rigged the voting systems, contributing to Trump’s loss.
“Fox, one of the most powerful media companies in the United States, give life to a manufactured storyline about election fraud that cast a then-libel known voting machine company called Dominion as the villain,” a copy of Dominion’s complaint reads, asserting that Fox News opted to place blame for former President Trump’s loss, in part, on Dominion. It surmises this was a strategic move as part of the company’s effort to lure viewers back to its network.
“Fox endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion,” the complaint continues, listing a few of what it alleges are falsehoods — from claiming that “Dominion committee election fraud by rigging to 2020 Presidential election” to asserting that Dominion’s software and algorithms “manipulated vote counts,” concluding that Fox News “recklessly disregarded the truth.”
Fox News filed a motion to dismiss, as the company stood by its 2020 election coverage, deeming the lawsuit “baseless.”
However, a recent look at the lawsuit offers a glimpse behind the scenes at Fox News, including former House Speaker Paul Ryan — a member of Fox Corporation Board of Directors — and his influence over the channel’s editorial coverage.
A section of the lawsuit, titled “Concern About Fox’s Election Coverage and Fallout Rises to the Board Level” details Ryan’s level of influence on the channel’s editorial coverage:
On November 10-12, FC held an in-person Board meeting in Los Angeles. Scott flew out for it. Former Speaker of the House and FC Board Member Paul Ryan confirmed that all Board members and business unit leaders attended. … Ryan testified that it wouldn’t surprise me if they discussed the topic of FNN coverage of the election. … When asked whether the topic of Donald Trump spreading baseless election conspiracy theories came up, Ryan responded : This is November 11th, so it would surprise me if we were not talking about the news today. … And when asked whether the topic of FNN covering these conspiracies arose, Ryan testified: Not that I can recall but it’s not implausible at all.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/02/28/dominion-lawsuit-showcases-paul-ryans-influence-over-fox-news-channels-editorial-control/
