Among all U.S. adults, 43% say they trust Fox News, an institution better described as fictional entertainment, for political and election news. Fox often cares more about reporting what their viewers want to hear than reporting the truth, and the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit–which resulted in a $786 million settlement–is proof. 

Guests and hosts at Fox claimed that Dominion’s voting machines were designed to rig elections for Joe Biden. They told viewers that the voting system had an algorithm that could erase votes from a candidate. This was false.

In order to prove defamation, Dominion had to prove actual malice, showing that Fox either knew that their ‘news’ was false and that Fox allowed it anyway, or that Fox was recklessly negligent. To protect First Amendment rights, actual malice is considered quite difficult to prove. However in this case, it wasn’t hard to find: Fox not only knew that they were spreading falsehoods, but they actively intended to. 

Fox host Dana Perino admitted that their  on-air claims about Dominion were “total bs,” “insane,” and “nonsense.” Despite that, Fox continued reporting on them for weeks. When Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich fact-checked the voter fraud claims against Dominion, she was silenced by the network. 

“Please get her fired,” said Tucker Carlson.

The same was done to Bryan Llenas, who publicly stated that he found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election. He eventually apologized to Carlson for the only accurate reporting Fox News had seen. 

The evidence of Fox purporting lies doesn’t end there. 

After Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, watched Fox reporters make false claims of electoral fraud during a press conference, he told Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott that it was “terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear.” Evidently, those fears didn’t last long–as Murdoch allegedly wrote, he was “scared to lose viewers.” 

The case may have caused Fox to incur financial harm, but the damage may not even be close to all the profit they’ve already made off of years of deception. It’s certainly worked, as Fox News has held its position as the most-watched cable “news” network for the past twenty years.

Even while the lawsuit was ongoing, Carlson spread conspiracies about the January 6 insurrection, cherry-picking video footage showing attackers taking photos to allege that the same crowd who caused the deaths of five people were simply tourists and peaceful protestors. 

Fox doesn’t care. To this day, they still haven’t apologized, or even acknowledged their falsehoods, once. If you scour their website or archives, you’d never know they just paid out nearly a billion dollars because they’ve knowingly spread lies that hurt America. Their only defense is that the case infringes on their First Amendment right to freedom of press, a right they should be ashamed of pretending to claim. 

What’s even more concerning is that the fraud that has been revealed to the public is only a small fraction of the whole. The 192-page case filing contained numerous redactions, likely damning evidence that Fox is adamantly withholding. 

They likely won’t ever own up to their actions, the hate, polarization, and division that they have directly caused. 

Last month, a man described as someone “fully buying into the Fox News kind of line” shot a 16-year-old boy because of the color of his skin. A postmaster in Pennsylvania was harassed and chased out of his home after false claims that he altered mail-in ballots, a phony theory that Fox devoted hours of coverage to supporting. 

Until recently, I naively wanted to believe that nobody was capable of intentionally causing this much harm, at least not an organization with a self-purported “commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” I had hoped that Carlson and other Fox hosts were just egregiously misinformed. Perhaps an alternate reality is what led viewers astray.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Carlson, like many, had personal reservations about Donald Trump. In a private text message chain revealed by the Dominion lawsuit, he said, “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.” Carlson knew Trump was bad for America, but he supported the president because it kept Fox’s ratings high, which in turn generated revenue.

Further texts revealed that Carlson even stated “I hate [Trump] passionately.” 

But this isn’t what Carlson told the audience that revered him. In front of the cameras, he sang praise about Trump, a man indicted of 34 felonies, defending what Trump said as “moderate, sensible, and wise.” Fox News not only encouraged, but promoted Trump’s conspiracies, everything from election fraud to consuming bleach.

It’s disheartening to see an institution like Fox, who should try to serve the people by upholding journalistic integrity, do the exact opposite. Although the Dominion case is a small step towards accountability, Fox’s baseless accusations and misinformation throughout the years are far greater. We might not know everything, but by the end of the many remaining lawsuits against Fox, I hope we’re closer to the truth.