Murdoch Fake News EXPOSED

Many of those who read papers like the Times and Sunday Times, and even some who read the Sun, believe what those titles feed them. There must be some substance in what they are told, they think, no-one seems to be taking them to court over the stories, and in any case, not even Rupert Murdoch would push that much falsehood and misinformation. Or would he?

It is here that the goings-on elsewhere in the Murdoch empire prove instructive: the discovery phase of a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems against the Casa Rupra for accusations levelled by hosts, and others, on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) around the 2020 US Presidential Election has shown us exactly what they would push.

FNC’s hosts knew that some of their guests, like lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, were lying and pushing conspiracy theories, rather than dealing in facts. But such was the channel’s grovelling backing for Combover Crybaby Donald Trump that they let rather a lot of the lying pass without challenge. That was bad. But what the New York Times just found is worse.

What the NYT has revealed is that, in the aftermath of that election, when those at FNC called Arizona for Joe Biden, the channel began to ship serious numbers of viewers. All those MAGA wackos were being told what was happening out there in the real world, and they didn’t like it one bit. So they turned off, or turned over - to media outlets that were even more wacko.

At this point it has to be stressed that FNC’s number crunchers have - or maybe that should be had - a reputation for getting their predictions right. This was demonstrated in 2012, when they called one key state for Barack Obama in the teeth of protests from their then guest Karl Rove - another Republican who didn’t want to hear what was really happening out there.

Following the accurate Arizona call, there was a panic meeting over Zoom, the entire content of which appears to have arrived at the NYT. And it was during that call that CEO Suzanne Scott and hosts such as Bret Baier considered pulling the (accurate, remember) Arizona call as a means of placating the MAGA wackos and getting them to tune back in.

You read that right: they gave their viewers the truth, a lot of those viewers didn’t want to hear the truth (that Trump was losing the election), and so they considered withdrawing the truth and pretending it hadn’t happened. This would mean changing the whole of FNC’s election coverage. Truth is playing badly, so let’s lie instead. They know they would be lying, but hey, ratings.

FNC’s CEO is on tape saying “If we hadn’t called Arizona for Biden … our ratings would have been bigger”. The channel’s experts’ job was not about accurate election coverage, but to … “protect the brand”. They pushed back, stressing that they had called Arizona right. And Ms Scott agreed that it was important to be right. But, and this is a significantly sized But.

“But I think we’re living in a new world, in a sense, where half the voting population don’t believe in big corporations, big tech, big media … there’s a lack of trust”. So Fox News lies to its viewers, over a period of years, thereby undermining trust. Then the channel’s CEO bemoans a lack of trust. Half the population disagrees with the truth, so let’s not report the truth.

Unsurprisingly, MSNBC is making hay with this revelation, with its Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber pointing out “The whole role of a legitimate news organisation is to report the truth, regardless of disagreement and especially when there’s a coordinated attack on the facts”. This is how blatant the lying very nearly became. This shows the Murdoch mafiosi’s standards. Or not.

Why, some media watchers in the UK wonder, is anyone concerned about noise floor occupants like Murdoch property TalkTV? One look at Fox News Channel is all you need to answer that one. Why is anyone worried about the Times and Sunday Times? Likewise, look at what’s happened to the Wall Street Journal since Murdoch took over. And you get the same answer.

Rupert Murdoch has poisoned media discourse in the USA. He was already well on the way to doing the same in the UK. Call him for what he is: this is not someone wanting to impart news. This is a far-right propagandist.

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