After airing sessions with guests parroting former president Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, Fox hosts voiced contempt for them behind the scenes. Perpetuating the stolen election fiction was part of the Fox strategy to retain Trump’s core following and keep their ratings up. (NPR, February 16, 2023, by David Folkenflik)
According to records obtained by Dominion Voting Systems suing Fox for defamation, Fox executives chose to forsake the truth to regain audience lost when they called the Arizona election for Joe Biden, losing viewers to Newsmax and earning Trump’s wrath. (Politico, February 17, 2023, by Rachael Bade)