Should someone have had a lot of confidence in the accuracy and integrity of Fox News host Sean Hannity, the past few weeks must have been somewhat jarring. Internal communications obtained by Dominion Voting Systems as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster reveal how Hannity and other Fox News hosts privately excoriated false claims about fraud in the 2020 election — but, worried about losing viewers, gave airtime to the conspiracy theories anyway.
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Before we get into Hannity’s show on Wednesday evening, it’s important to walk through this issue in detail.
In a deposition as part of the Dominion suit, Hannity insisted that he “did not believe … for one second” the allegations made by attorney Sidney Powell of vote-switching by electronic voting machines. Yet, on Nov. 30, 2020 — well after his colleague Tucker Carlson had noted on-air that Powell had no evidence for her claims — Hannity interviewed her anyway. The segment was so obviously riddled with nonsense that another Fox host took time to debunk it and other, similar allegations.
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“Hannity had told his audience on November 11 that the hand recount in Georgia would be critical regarding the questions about Dominion,” a filing from the voting-machine company states. “By November 30, the hand recount had been completed and proved Dominion’s machines worked properly and did not flip votes in Georgia. Yet Hannity still invited Powell on his show and chose to broadcast her lies. He said nothing about the results of the Georgia hand recount.”
Why? A text exchange from earlier in the month explained.
“Respecting this audience whether we agree or not is critical. Fox has spent the month spitting at them,” Hannity wrote to colleagues on Nov. 24, according to Dominion. “Right,” one replied — “our best minutes from last week were on the voting irregularities.”
There are numerous other examples of Hannity promoting false allegations or making untrue statements on his show. (Here are some.) But the release of Dominion’s filings has provided an unusual level of detail about how Hannity and his employer subjugate truth to what their audience wants to hear. On this one issue, we see the network’s willingness to promote a false narrative that pleases its audience at the expense of sharing accurate information — a trade-off that the available evidence suggests occurs at Fox News on a near nightly basis.
Fox News pushed Trump conspiracies despite doubts | The Flip
2:07
A new legal filing from Dominion Voting Systems shows Fox News anchors pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election, even as they privately doubted their validity. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)
Fox News employees appear to be forbidden from discussing the lawsuit, for perhaps obvious reasons. But on Wednesday, Hannity did his best to rebut the idea that Fox News and he himself were unusually dishonest — by hosting a panel in which he and guests such as former Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway asserted that it was instead the traditional press that was hopelessly biased.
more could a member of the media ask for?
Sign up for How To Read This Chart, a weekly data newsletter from Philip Bump
Before we get into Hannity’s show on Wednesday evening, it’s important to walk through this issue in detail.
In a deposition as part of the Dominion suit, Hannity insisted that he “did not believe … for one second” the allegations made by attorney Sidney Powell of vote-switching by electronic voting machines. Yet, on Nov. 30, 2020 — well after his colleague Tucker Carlson had noted on-air that Powell had no evidence for her claims — Hannity interviewed her anyway. The segment was so obviously riddled with nonsense that another Fox host took time to debunk it and other, similar allegations.
ADVERTISING
“Hannity had told his audience on November 11 that the hand recount in Georgia would be critical regarding the questions about Dominion,” a filing from the voting-machine company states. “By November 30, the hand recount had been completed and proved Dominion’s machines worked properly and did not flip votes in Georgia. Yet Hannity still invited Powell on his show and chose to broadcast her lies. He said nothing about the results of the Georgia hand recount.”
Why? A text exchange from earlier in the month explained.
“Respecting this audience whether we agree or not is critical. Fox has spent the month spitting at them,” Hannity wrote to colleagues on Nov. 24, according to Dominion. “Right,” one replied — “our best minutes from last week were on the voting irregularities.”
There are numerous other examples of Hannity promoting false allegations or making untrue statements on his show. (Here are some.) But the release of Dominion’s filings has provided an unusual level of detail about how Hannity and his employer subjugate truth to what their audience wants to hear. On this one issue, we see the network’s willingness to promote a false narrative that pleases its audience at the expense of sharing accurate information — a trade-off that the available evidence suggests occurs at Fox News on a near nightly basis.
Fox News pushed Trump conspiracies despite doubts | The Flip
2:07
A new legal filing from Dominion Voting Systems shows Fox News anchors pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election, even as they privately doubted their validity. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)
Fox News employees appear to be forbidden from discussing the lawsuit, for perhaps obvious reasons. But on Wednesday, Hannity did his best to rebut the idea that Fox News and he himself were unusually dishonest — by hosting a panel in which he and guests such as former Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway asserted that it was instead the traditional press that was hopelessly biased.
more could a member of the media ask for?