On Wednesday, former CNN host, Brian Stelter, joined “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” to discuss Fox News’s recent controversies. The network faces a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems and criticism from pundits who view Tucker Carlson’s broadcast of previously unseen surveillance tapes from January 6th as journalistically unethical.
Stelter, who penned a piece for Vanity Fair called “‘We’re All Embarrassed’: Inside Fox New as Dominion Revelations Rattle the Network”, shared that he has Fox News sources unhappy with recent news events, with some even considering the network’s content a danger to democracy.
Stelter went on to describe Fox News as three distinct parts: a large opinion operation with personalities such as “Fox & Friends,” Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo, a small news operation with real journalists who often get overshadowed by the opinion hosts, and finally, Tucker Carlson’s world, which Stelter views as separate from the rest of the opinion operation. Stelter shared that some journalists at the network believe that some of the opinion hosts are doing the network a disservice and that the three functioning parts of Fox News Channel dislike each other.
“Tucker Carlson is the biggest star, but he’s separate from the rest of the opinion operation. He does stuff nobody dares to do, like how he’s trying to whitewash the reality of the riot on January 6th.”
Stelter also discussed the defamation lawsuit brought against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems, stating that the big challenge in court will be determining whether the hosts’ commentary meets the defamation standard. Stelter named Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Sean Hannity as hosts whose names come up repeatedly in the case, along with Tucker Carlson, who was more careful on his show than some of the others.
Stelter concluded that he had recently interviewed many people inside Fox News for Vanity Fair and that there was a consensus that the defamation lawsuit would be settled before the trial begins in April.
“Many people believe that Fox has tried to settle, but Dominion doesn’t want to settle,” he said. “They want to make this painful for Fox; they want to go to court because they believe they have a strong case. If I had to guess right now, there would be some settlement because Fox does not want its biggest stars to testify in an open courtroom about all of this.”
In a statement to Barrett News Media, a Fox News spokesperson said “Dominion and its private equity owners join a long line of public figures and corporations across the country that have long tried to silence the press and this lawsuit from Staple Street Capital-owned Dominion is nothing more than another flagrant attack on the First Amendment. Fox News will continue to fiercely protect the free press as a ruling in favor of Dominion would have grave consequences for journalism across this country.”
