Oliver Darcy: “What’s Fox News really good at doing? Ignoring important news stories. The right-wing channel has largely turned a blind eye to former President Donald Trump’s disturbing call to terminate the U.S. Constitution and install him as president or hold a new election.”
Matt Gertz reports that up until noon Monday, the channel had “spent just over one minute on the story.”
Semafor’s climate editor Bill Spindle said he left the new publication over Chevron ads that appeared with his stories, Heated reports.
“Rupert Murdoch, the 91-year-old chairman of Fox News parent company Fox Corp, will be forced to answer questions under oath next week about his network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Murdoch will be deposed on the mornings of Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 as part of election technology company Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News… The lawsuit alleges that the network purposely aired false claims about Dominion’s role in the 2020 presidential election to boost ratings and fight off competition from more-conservative-leaning television networks.”
“Lara Trump, a vociferous supporter of her father-in-law and his policies when he campaigned for re-election to the White House in 2020, is parting ways as an official contributor to Fox News Channel,” Variety reports.
“Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of the Fox Corporation, is expected to be deposed on Monday as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for amplifying bogus claims that rigged machines from Dominion Voting Systems were responsible for Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Murdoch will be the most senior corporate figure within the Fox media empire to face questions under oath in the case so far. And his appearance before Dominion’s lawyers is a sign of how unexpectedly far and fast the lawsuit has progressed in recent weeks — and how contentious it has become.”
“Fox and Dominion have gone back and forth in Delaware state court since the summer in an escalating dispute over witnesses, evidence and testimony. The arguments point to the high stakes of the case, which will render a judgment on whether the most powerful conservative media outlet in the country intentionally misled its audience and helped seed one of the most pervasive lies in American politics.”
Political analyst Chris Cillizza was among those who were laid off from CNN this week, Variety reports.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern held a joint press conference with Finland prime minister Sanna Marin after their meeting.
REPORTER: A lot of people will be wondering: Are you two meeting just because you’re similar in age and have got a lot of common stuff there — when you got into politics and stuff — or can Kiwis actually expect to see more deals between our two countries down the line?
ARDERN: My first question is I wonder whether or not anyone every asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of a similar age? We of course have a higher proportion of men in politics, it’s reality. Because two women meet, it’s not simply because of their gender.
MARIN: We are meeting because we are prime ministers, of course.
“A documentary on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s life and groundbreaking political career, shot and edited by her daughter, will debut on HBO next month,” the AP reports.
“Alexandra Pelosi’s ‘Pelosi in the House’ will premiere Dec. 13 and will include footage shot during the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
“The New York Times and four European news organizations called on the United States government on Monday to drop its charges against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, for obtaining and publishing classified diplomatic and military secrets,” the New York Times reports.
CNN chief Chris Licht told the Financial Times that it’s “bullshit” that he wants the cable network to be more “centrist.”
Said Licht: “One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla, that I want to be centrist. That is bullshit.”
He added: “You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions. But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right.”
Trump adviser Jason Miller praised CNN for dedicating 25 minutes of their coverage to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, Semafor reports.
Said Miller: “Credit where credit is due.”
The Bulwark: “Billy Corben’s new documentary, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty, presents the pool attendant Granda’s account of his ménage à trois with Falwell and Falwell’s wife, Becki, both of whom have rejected his version of the events.”
“The main outline of the narrative will be familiar to anyone who followed the Falwell saga as it unfolded, but new footage and materials deepen the picture while making the Falwells’ denials even harder to believe.”
Fox News significantly decreased its volume of violent crime coverage in the week of the midterm elections, down 63% from the week prior, Media Matters reports.
New York Times: “ABC, NBC and CBS all decided to stick with previously scheduled entertainment programming…”
On cable, Fox News Channel aired most of the speech live while CNN carried the first 25 minutes before switching back to a panel discussion after Trump formally announced his 2024 candidacy. MSNBC, however, chose not to air the speech, choosing instead to stick with Alex Wagner’s 9 p.m. show.”
“About 25.4 million people watched midterm elections coverage across 13 live television networks Tuesday evening in primetime, nearly 30% less than the number that watched the results come in four years ago,” Axios reports.
“Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who controls some of the most powerful organs in conservative media, appeared to make clear Wednesday that he would prefer to cast aside former President Donald Trump in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the leader of the Republican party,” CNN reports.
Kathleen Searles and Christopher Mann: “It’s enough to inspire civic pride — but some of these images may not be positive for democracy: Our new research, which is not yet published, shows that people who watch a television news story that depicts polling place lines are less likely to say they will vote in future elections.”
“Coverage of lines is prevalent, according to a content analysis we did of national and local news coverage leading up to the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections. But, we found, seeing images of lines in news stories about voting made people more likely to think that voting is time-consuming and decreased their stated confidence in elections.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told Pro Politics that she believes the conservative media landscape “has shifted” away from Donald Trump.
Said Haberman: “Jeanine Pirro is an old friend of his. Sean Hannity is an old friend of his. Will say I’ve notice he’s barely been on Sean Hannity’s show, you know, in recent weeks whereas you got used to having him on whenever he felt like it.”
She added: “I noticed he’s not there. I don’t know what the reason is. He’s barely been on Fox in general.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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