Pension funds in New York City and Oregon have recently filed a lawsuit against Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, for its involvement in the dissemination of fake news during the 2020 election cycle. The plaintiffs include the state of Oregon and New York City, who claim that Fox’s board, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and CEO-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, were aware that the promotion of false political narratives by Fox News would expose them to defamation charges. The complaint was filed in Delaware Chancery Court on September 12 and will remain sealed for five days to allow for redactions.
Oregon’s Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum, accused the Fox board of taking a “massive risk” by perpetuating and peddling known falsehoods, leaving the company and its shareholders vulnerable to significant risks and liabilities. New York City’s five pension funds, representing 800,000 current and retired workers with a cumulative worth of $253 billion, hold 857,000 shares valued at $28.1 million in Fox. Oregon’s shares, on the other hand, are valued at $5.2 million.
It is worth noting that this is not the first legal action against Fox regarding its alleged dissemination of false information. The company has faced defamation-related lawsuits from two voting machine companies, a Venezuelan businessman, a Fox shareholder, and even a participant in the January 6 Capitol Hill riot, all seeking to hold the company accountable for its coverage of the previous national election. Despite the mounting legal pressure, the Fox executives and board have made no efforts to introduce governance reforms to address the risk of defamation lawsuits impacting shareholders’ value.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees the pension funds, emphasized that the lack of journalistic standards and failure to mitigate defamation risks has significantly harmed Fox’s reputation and threatens its long-term profitability. He believes that Fox’s inappropriate handling of false news has had a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. In fact, Fox reached a $787 million settlement with Dominion, one of the voting machine companies it made false claims about, to resolve a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. Viet Dinh, the company’s chief legal officer responsible for overseeing the election lawsuits, stepped down after the settlement was reached. Currently, the second company involved in the false claims, Smartmatic, is still pursuing its $2.7 billion case against Fox and is seeking not only a substantial settlement but also a complete retraction of the disinformation spread by the network on all its platforms.
Additionally, Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, recently settled a $12 million harassment and defamation lawsuit against the network and Carlson himself. Grossberg accused the network of fostering a hostile work environment and pressuring her to provide misleading testimony in the Dominion lawsuit.
Related stories:
• Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News
• Dominion’s legal victory over Fox without a trial
• A shareholder’s lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch over Fox’s 2020 election coverage
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