The Fallout of Fox News and Trump’s “Stolen Election” Claims
Less than an hour after Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News projected that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election, Murdoch sent a clear message to Donald Trump: “You lost, get over it.” This decision marked a turning point for Murdoch’s media empire as it grappled with the aftermath of Trump’s defeat and the misinformation that followed.
On November 7, 2020, Murdoch and his son, Lachlan, worked together to draft an editorial for the New York Post, advising Trump to accept the election results. Titled “President Trump, your legacy is secure — stop the ‘stolen election’ rhetoric”, the piece urged Trump to handle his loss with dignity. It gave Trump specific advice, including distancing himself from his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who had become a key figure in promoting baseless claims of voter fraud.
Despite this effort to quell conspiracy theories, Fox News quickly became a platform for these claims. The day after the editorial was published, Maria Bartiromo’s show Sunday Morning Futures allowed Sidney Powell, a lawyer pushing Trump’s claims, to amplify unfounded accusations about Dominion Voting Systems. This segment would later become a major legal issue for the network, leading to Fox’s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for defamation.
Bartiromo’s actions on November 8, 2020, played a pivotal role in perpetuating the falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Sidney Powell alleged a “massive and coordinated effort” to rig the election, without providing credible evidence. In retrospect, the source of her claims, as revealed in court documents, was an email filled with bizarre and debunked conspiracy theories, including statements about Nancy Pelosi’s connections to Dominion and outlandish claims about former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Despite the email’s absurdity, Bartiromo shared it with her producer and allowed Powell to promote these baseless claims to millions of viewers.
Fox News’ internal dynamics at the time illustrate a complex relationship between journalistic integrity and political loyalty. While some within the network expressed concerns over the spread of these claims, others, including top executives like Lachlan Murdoch, appeared indifferent. The fallout from these decisions has continued to affect Fox News, which remains closely tied to Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud.
As Rupert Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp, his legacy is complicated by the role his network played in the dissemination of the “Big Lie.” His son, Lachlan, inherits control of the media empire in a moment when Fox is still grappling with the consequences of its editorial decisions during and after the 2020 election.
For Fox News, the damage may be long-lasting. Six in ten Republican voters still believe the election was stolen from Trump, and the network’s involvement in spreading these falsehoods has permanently shaped both the political landscape and the future of conservative media.