In May 2018, the top Republicans needed help. So they called Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were trying to block West Virginia Republicans from nominating convicted Don Blankenship. Violation of mine safety standards He challenged the state’s incumbent Senator, Democrat Joe Manchin, when a fatal accident occurred at one of his mines.

According to court records released this week, Murdoch wrote to Fox News executives, “Both Trump and McConnell are trying to beat a former mine owner who was serving unelected. I am asking for help,” he said. “Anything helps during the day, but Sean (Hannity) and Laura (Ingraham)’s hard throw at him might save the day.”

Murdoch’s proposal, revealed in court documents that are part of a defamation lawsuit by a voting system company, would encourage Fox to become actively involved in politics, rather than simply reporting or commenting on it. This is an example of what has become a revelation. Questioning the credibility of the hottest cable news At the beginning of the new election season, Trump announced his third run for the White House, once again becoming a major player.

Blankenship, who ultimately missed out on the primary, said in an interview Wednesday that he felt an immediate change as network coverage became more intense in the final hours before the primary.

“They were very smart about the election. Told.

On Wednesday, the network viewed Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit as a flagrant attack on the First Amendment and said the company took its statement out of context. According to Fox, that includes an endorsement by Murdoch, who is head of Trump’s re-election campaign and shared with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Joe Biden’s presidential campaign ads airing on his network. Fox said the ad that Murdoch forwarded to Kushner has already gone live on YouTube and at least one TV station.

“The Dominion has been arrested red-handed again for using even more distortions and misinformation in its PR campaign to defame Fox News and trample free speech and press freedom,” Fox said in a statement. said in

Fox has long been considered a powerhouse in Republican politics. large conservative fan baseBut thousands of pages of documents released this week Defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Show how the network has blurred the lines between journalism and party politics. Dominion filed a lawsuit after being the target of a 2020 presidential election conspiracy theory.

Murdoch He also told Fox News executives to tout the benefits of Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill and to pay special attention to Republican Senate candidates, the documents show. At the height of the 2020 pandemic, the network hoped to “hack” Biden’s low-profile presidential campaign.

Nicole Hemmer, professor of history at Vanderbilt University and author of The Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Reshaped American Politics in the 1990s, said the facts uncovered in the lawsuit were a force to be reckoned with in the news and public opinion. It pierced Fox’s long assertion that there was a line between the sides of the

“What really became apparent here was how fictional that split was,” says Hemmer. “Those who know Fox have been claiming it for a while, and now we have real evidence.”

directive to promote Trump

Hemmer cited text messages revealed in court documents sent by Fox’s chief political correspondent, Brett Byer, in early November 2020, claiming that President Joe Biden had won Arizona on the correct election. Byer advocated bringing Arizona “back to his column”, referring to Trump.

Just like Trump was making in the days after the election increasingly wild claims or scam Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and executive chairman of Fox, sent a text message to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, sounding the alarm about the Trump rally.

“The press must be careful how they report this rally,” Lachlan-Murdoch wrote, according to legal documents. “So far, some side his comments are slightly anti, but it shouldn’t be. The story should be this huge celebration of the president.”

Some of Fox’s political statements are well-known, including star host Sean Hannity’s frequent conversations with Trump during his presidency. But court documents show how his boss Rupert Murdoch got into the action.

Murdoch emailed Scott in November 2017, urging her to push for Trump’s tax cut proposal.

“We will have to tell our viewers over and over what they will get if they pass this bill,” Murdoch wrote in an email, which is included in court records. Everything under $10,000 is great.”

After the first presidential debate of 2020, a “horrified” Murdoch told Kushner that Trump should be more restrained in the next debate. (Trump canceled that event.)

“It was advice from friend to friend,” Murdoch said in his deposition. “It wasn’t advice from Fox Corporation or my qualifications at Fox.”

“What’s the difference?” Dominion attorney Justin A. Turner asked.

“As head of Fox, keep asking me questions,” Murdoch said. “Being a friend is a different role.”

Murdoch’s email exchange with Kushner led to the exchange of Biden ads, according to court records. That exchange is now the subject of a complaint to the Federal Election Commission from the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America, alleging that Fox made illegal contributions to the Trump campaign by providing information about Biden’s ads. claims to have done so. Fox said sharing public information is not considered a contribution.

According to court records, on September 25, 2020, Murdoch emailed Kushner, saying that Biden’s ad was “much better creatively than yours,” and that “my people told me I just give it to you.”

That same month, Murdoch wondered, “How can I vote for Biden?” in an email to Col. Allan, former editor of the Murdoch-owned New York Post. Allen replied that Biden’s “only hope is to stay in the basement and not face serious problems.”

“We’ve only confirmed that Fox has a bang on these issues,” Murdoch replied, according to court records.

Another prominent politician Murdoch describes as a “friend” is McConnell. McConnell’s wife, then-Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, served on Fox’s board. Murdoch said he speaks with the Republican Senate Speaker “three or four times a year.”

During the 2017 special Republican Senate primary in Alabama, Murdoch said in a deposition that he told management that he would, like McConnell, disagree. Roy Moore, the controversial former Chief Justice of AlabamaMoore eventually won the party’s nomination, but lost the general election after being credibly accused of sexual misconduct, including pursuing an affair with a teenager when he was in his 30s. Moore denied his allegations.

In the deposition, Murdoch also cited a personal friendship with an obscure Senate candidate and suggested to Scott that the network should pay special attention to Republicans in the close Senate race.

Days before the 2020 election, after Fox business anchor Lou Dobbs was critical of Republican Sen. Hannity asked Hannity to cheer up Graham, who was facing

Murdoch wrote on October 27, “You probably know about Lou Dobbs’ outburst against Lindsay Graham,” misspelling the senator’s first name in a copy of the message in court documents. “Can Sean say something supportive? If possible, he can’t lose the Senate.”

Scott replied that Graham had been on Hannity’s show the night before and that “he had a lot of time.”