- Fox News lies to its viewers, and there is evidence to prove it. This is not a mere accusation or allegation, it is a fact.
- It is difficult to determine whether people are making false statements knowingly or not, but with Fox News, there is proof of their commitment to knowingly misleading their viewers.
- The most compelling example of Fox News consciously lying to its viewers is the Dominion defamation lawsuit, in which evidence shows Fox knew that the election fraud allegations were baseless, but kept airing them due to fear of losing viewers to Newsmax.
- Fox News’s lawyers argue that they were merely covering newsworthy allegations and exercising editorial judgment, but internally they knew this would lead their audience to see the fictitious allegations as legitimate, which is irresponsible.
- This reveals a Fox News propaganda feedback loop, and that despite the right-wing argument that conservatives distrust mainstream media outlets because they do not tell the truth, Fox News executives and personalities understand that their own network loses traction with its audience when it fails to tell the lies the audience wishes to hear.
- Finally, if Fox News beats the lawsuit, it is because of the very free-speech protections that the conservative movement has spent years railing against.
Published February 19, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Adam Serwer’s original post Why Fox News Lied to Its Viewers
