Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 12/2/25

Headline:  “Murdochs blessed Fox News plan to air 2020 election fraud claims, Smartmatic alleges”

Subhead:  “In key hearing in defamation case, Fox counters that network simply covered allegations by Trump associates”

“Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch authorized a plan for Fox News to embrace Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020 in a bid to win back viewers angry with the network, a lawyer for the voting technology company Smartmatic argued on Tuesday.

“ ‘The conservative viewers, their bread and butter, abandoned them,’ J Erik Connolly told the New York state supreme court judge David B Cohen. ‘So what do they do? They return back to what they know best: they return back to disinformation, pro-Trump propaganda and xenophobia. The election story and the election fraud claims was the perfect vehicle for them to get back onto their core messaging’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/02/rupert-lachlan-murdoch-fox-2020-election