Dear MoveOn member,
We'll cut to the chase: We want to put an ad on Fox News that shows the contrast between what hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham were spouting on air about the 2020 election and what they were saying in private—namely, that they all knew it was a Big Lie.
Why do we want to do this now? Because this is the best chance we've had in years to effectively take down Fox News.
Last week, an explosive court filing was released as part of a $1.6 billion defamation case against Fox News that contained hundreds of emails and text messages from Fox hosts and executives privately discussing how ludicrous Donald Trump's claims of election fraud were—while they simultaneously promoted those lies on air.1
Immediately following Election Day in 2020, Fox News picked up the mantle of Trump's Big Lie, allowing members of his legal team, including Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, to appear repeatedly in prime time pushing baseless lies and conspiracy theories without any pushback from the hosts.
But while Tucker Carlson sat back and allowed these lies to go unchallenged on air, this is what he was saying behind the scenes:
"This software s*** is absurd … Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It's insane."2,3
Laura Ingraham, who also had Sidney Powell on her show multiple times and went so far as to call on the attorney general to take action to overturn the election, responded to Carlson: "Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy."4
Sean Hannity was even more blunt, calling Giuliani, Powell, and Trump's cast of conspiratorial lawyers "F***ing lunatics."5
Even Rupert Murdoch himself agreed that these lies were dangerous, texting another Fox executive that allowing Powell and others to continue spewing these lies on air was "Terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear."6
But rather than use this as a moment to come clean and correct the lies it knowingly sold as news to its viewers, Fox News is doubling down.
This is exactly what we want to highlight in our ad. We will air what Carlson, Ingraham, Murdoch, and others were saying behind the scenes, exposing the lies they were telling their viewers on air.
By doing this, we can show Fox News viewers that they cannot trust any of the information coming from the network, increase the pressure on advertisers to cut ties with Fox, and add attention to our campaign calling on cable providers to allow customers to opt out of including Fox News in their cable package.
MoveOn supports advertiser boycotts of Fox—indeed, we have a longstanding policy against placing any ads with them ourselves. But we're making an exception because this is an exceptional moment for accountability—placing an ad on Fox is the best way we can expose their lies to their own viewers and make an outsize impact on their overall business.
Andra, we've known for years that Fox News was anything but "news." Their hosts clearly know that much of what they're saying on air is a lie.
But as Tucker Carlson pointed out in another text message, "Our viewers are good people and they believe it."7
There's the rub. Fox News is the most-watched cable news network on television.8 Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity host the most-viewed primetime cable news programs each week.9 And every night, these hosts are knowingly lying to their millions of viewers, promoting racism and bigotry, pushing conspiracies, and inciting violence. They know they're doing it, they know the consequences, and they just don't care.
And that's what makes them so dangerous.
The white man behind the race massacre at the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York last year released a manifesto in which he cited Tucker Carlson's repeated promotion of the racist and antisemitic "great replacement theory" as one of the driving forces behind his decision to murder 10 Black people that day.10
And it is fair to say that without Fox News's constant promotion of Trump's Big Lie, the deadly insurrection on January 6 would not have been possible.
Fox News has been allowed to hold on to their power for far too long. It's time they lost it.
Help us kick-start that process by getting our ad on Fox News's own air. Chip in $3 now.
Thanks for all you do.
–David, Chloe, Jennifer, Mona, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "A juicy new legal filing reveals who really controls Fox News," Vox, February 18, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170547?t=5&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
2. Ibid.
3. "Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims. 'Crazy Stuff.'" The New York Times, February 22, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170548?t=7&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
4. Ibid.
5. "'Mind Blowingly Nuts': Fox News Hosts And Execs Repeatedly Denounced 2020 Election Fraud Off-Air—Here Are Their Most Scathing Comments," Forbes, February 17, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170549?t=9&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
6. "The 'wackadoodle' foundation of Fox News' election-fraud claims," NPR, February 20, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170550?t=11&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
7. "Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims. 'Crazy Stuff.'" The New York Times, February 22, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170548?t=13&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
8. "These Are the Top-Rated Cable News Shows of 2022," AdWeek, January 3, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170551?t=15&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
9. Ibid.
10. "What the shooting in Buffalo has to do with Fox News host Tucker Carlson," NPR, May 17, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/170552?t=17&akid=345826%2E53570607%2Ee_Ls2c
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