According to Rolling Stone, Fox News has reportedly dissolved its investigative unit and laid off reporters just one month after firing Tucker Carlson, its prominent host known for peddling election fraud claims, and settling a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
A Fox employee stated that the network’s rank-and-file journalists were being let go while upper management remained unaffected, despite their responsibility for the Dominion debacle. The employee described the journalists as “sacrificial lambs”.
The original lawsuit filed by Dominion sought $1.6 billion in damages and accused Fox News of intentionally broadcasting false information regarding the 2020 election being rigged in favor of President Joe Biden. The network is currently facing another expensive lawsuit from another voting systems company.
This lawsuit also revealed that Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox News’s parent company, urged the network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott, to assist in swaying the U.S. Senate race in Georgia for Republican candidates in 2020.
Scott, who has been with Fox News for 22 years and became the network’s first female CEO in 2018, has faced accusations of fostering a toxic workplace for women. However, she is not the only figure named in the lawsuit that has drawn criticism from staff.
One staffer expressed outrage that Scott and Maria Bartiromo, a Fox News opinion host who shared her interview questions with former President Donald Trump, retained their jobs while journalists were being let go.
Multiple sources confirmed the layoffs, with one former employee speculating that the network might be cutting staff to save money due to the ongoing lawsuit. However, another source claimed that some supposedly fired individuals were merely reassigned away from the investigative unit.
While there is no direct connection between the Dominion settlement and the layoffs, Fox News faces further legal challenges as the Smartmatic defamation lawsuit, currently in the discovery phase, seeks $2.7 billion in damages.
