If the lawsuit between Fox News Channel and Dominion Voting Systems goes to trial, it will be devastating for the news channel, rival cable network CNN’s Oliver Darcy says.
Rupert Murdoch stated in a deposition he gave last month that he knew Fox News Channel was spreading false claims about the 2020 presidential election. Claims that Dominion voting machines were compromised are the basis of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
Darcy said Murdoch’s deposition will be detrimental to the channel, especially if the case goes to trial.
“It will be devastating for Fox, I mean this is a taste of what’s to come. Imagine Rupert Murdoch on the stand, Lachlan Murdoch on the stand, Sean Hannity on the stand, Tucker Carlson on the stand,” said Darcy.
“This will be weeks and weeks of damning headlines, which could really damage Fox’s brand. I mean, they have, you know, to preserve these business relationships. Hhey have to at least have some reputation they’re a legitimate news company,” Darcy said on his own network Wednesday. “And I have been saying obviously that that’s not the case. But the perception that they are a news company is crumbling, and this could result in damage to the actual Fox Corporation brand and really result in problems for shareholders. Their shareholders are gonna wonder what’s going on over at Fox.”
Darcy added that the company and Murdoch will need to consider how this will impact shareholders.
“I think we have to remember that Fox Corporation is a publicly traded company. And so they have a board of directors who owe responsibility to the shareholders to make sure that, you know, there is some sort of corporate governance,” said Darcy, mentioning that Fox News Channel will need to take “immediate action” to keep their heads above water.
“When I was talking to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who is the renowned professor at Yale Management School, he was saying that the board of Fox, people like Paul Ryan, need to take immediate action, including possibly removing people like the Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott to at least attempt to clean up this wrongdoing, because they have a responsibility to shareholders,” said Darcy. “And by their lack of corporate governance, they have effectively opened up Fox News and Fox Corporation.”
