In these confusing times it’s good to get some clarity on at least one lingering question and this week we finally learnt why Fox News decided to perpetuate the lie that the 2020 US election was stolen: stock options of senior executive and performers. Oh, and — checks notes — an “internally decapitated” ghost.
It’s a tangled web full of cartoonishly awful people, but what seems to be oozing out of the woodwork and plopping onto the floor is things went pear-shaped the moment Fox News sent shock waves through MAGA-land by (accurately and responsibly) calling Arizona for Joe Biden.
If the faithful were shocked, Trump and his team were reportedly apoplectic with rage. Furious calls, texts and emails rained down on Fox bosses and a horrible realisation began to dawn: by allowing reality to penetrate the MAGAverse, and being the heralds of Biden’s impending win, they had just killed the orange, spray-tanned goose that had been laying them golden eggs for years.
Tucker Carlson, who privately referred to Trump as a “demonic force”, was clearly terrified that Trump was about to ditch Fox in favour of Newsmax and tank his stock options. “What Trump’s good at is destroying things,” he wrote to his producer. “He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”
What Carlson meant by “play it wrong” was “do journalism”, but more of this in a moment.
It is not yet clear whether the decision to back the Big Lie was a consciously and centrally planned one or whether Fox performers simply busked their way towards a position that would keep Trump sweet, but it’s clear that at this point Fox’s real journalists (and there were a few) were sidelined and undiluted Kool Aid started pumping.
Enter the Dominion voting machine conspiracy theory, claiming that said machines were somehow hacked or remotely controlled by shadowy Democrats and/or Venezuelan Marxists.
According to court documents, this conspiracy theory seems to have arrived on the desks at Fox on November 7 in the most absurd way possible.
Clearly impressed by this internally headless ghost, Powell promptly forwarded the email to Fox News performers Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs, who laughed hysterically, deleted it and went back to doing real journalism and — oh, no, wait, I’m getting something in my earpiece …
Sidney Powell, perhaps Trump’s most incompetent lawyer (and that’s saying a lot), had received an email from someone claiming to have knowledge that Dominion voting machines were dodgy.
Providing evidence, the unnamed author of the email wrote: “Who am I? And how do I know all of this? ... I’ve had the strangest dreams since I was a little girl ... I was internally decapitated, and yet, I live ... The Wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t believe it.”
Clearly impressed by this internally headless ghost, Powell promptly forwarded the email to Fox News performers Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs, who laughed hysterically, deleted it and went back to doing real journalism and — oh, no, wait, I’m getting something in my earpiece ... Apologies. It seems Bartiromo and Dobbs did not immediately disregard and then debunk this patently insane email and instead started publicly questioning the safety of Dominion voting machines during their segments.
Still, the problem with running a big media company is that sometimes you accidentally employ actual journalists, and a few days later Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich publicly admitted the election wasn’t stolen.
Once again, Tucker Carlson saw his vast pension becoming fractionally less vast and on November 12 got into a furious text conversation with fellow performers Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, telling Hannity: “Please get her fired ... Seriously ... what the f**k? I’m actually shocked ... It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down.”
As we now know, gagging journalists didn’t work. Fox had been cast out of the Garden of MAGA and the faithful weren’t coming back. On November 18 a senior executive sent a panicked email, worrying that “viewers are watching less” and ordering anyone who could type and fabricate a conspiracy theory: “Do not ever give the viewers a reason to turn off.”
Many did: in 2019, Fox News averaged 2.5-million viewers. This year it’s about 1.9 million. That figure may be much lower once Fox settles with Dominion and pays a fortune in damages.
So why is this important and why now? Why should shell-shocked South Africans in the midst of stage 6 load-shedding and stage 12 ANC failure care about a conspiracy from two years ago on the other side of the world?
Simple. The Dominion lawsuit is a vital reminder that sometimes shills pretending to be journalists, and the media companies that employ them, lie for money. (There are 10 imaginary decuplets who’ll confirm what I’m saying.)
Of course, I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t believe anything you read. South Africa is still blessed with many incorruptible, passionate and professional journalists.
But the Dominion trial is showing us how close a corrupted media company came to overthrowing democracy in the US and warning us, louder than ever, to protect our own fragile, crumbling democracy from frauds and populists; to call out the bulls**t the moment it starts to smell; and, most important, to support good journalism not just with Facebook likes but with money.
And if you know anyone who still watches Fox News you have my condolences because that sucker has been well and truly internally decapitated.
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