(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Let's Make Sure Fox Finds Out - Help Sink that Ship! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-16 Sorry I didn’t post last week: Easter, travel, and taxes. But our push must continue. FOX News is more vulnerable than it has been in a long time, and while they are taking on water, it seems like the perfect moment to blast a few more holes in their hull. Ideas on how to do this are down below. Recent Developments Although I had to pause, the finding out stage of FOX News continues. Here are some developments: First, the Dominion lawsuit is scheduled to start this week! What fun! Jury selection has taken place Marshall Cohen, CNN News Almost the entire process took place outside of public view, with Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis privately questioning prospective jurors. Davis said Thursday afternoon that he made good progress, and that there were “more than enough jurors” to start the trial as planned on Monday, when opening statements are expected. Jury selection is done for the week, and there are no in-court proceedings scheduled for Friday. Roughly 300 potential jurors were summoned to the Delaware Superior Court and will eventually be whittled down to a panel of 12 jurors and 12 alternates. The high-stakes trial — which will put a spotlight on Fox’s 2020 election denialism and the role of disinformation in American politics — is expected to last about six weeks. Potential jurors were peppered with questions about their news consumption habits, including whether they watch Fox News. But Judge Davis narrowed the scope of the questioning — he didn’t want jurors to be asked if they believe the 2020 election was legitimate, or if they had any connection to the January 6 insurrection. Dominion judge will probably appoint special master to see if FOX withheld evidence Marshall Cohen, CNN News Wilmington, Delaware, CNN — The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ massive defamation case against Fox News said Wednesday that he plans to appoint an outside attorney to investigate whether the right-wing network lied to the court to withhold key evidence, after repeatedly expressing exasperation and frustration with Fox’s attorneys. “I am very concerned… that there have been misrepresentations to the court. This is very serious,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Wednesday at a pretrial hearing in Wilmington. The extraordinary move, on the brink of the trial starting next week, is the latest blow to Fox News as it tries to fend off the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit that Dominion filed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Murdoch sued by FOX shareholder Dan Ladden-Hall The Daily Beast A Fox Corporation shareholder on Tuesday sued Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan, and other directors on the company’s board over claims they allowed Fox News to spread lies about the 2020 presidential election. Plaintiff Robert Schwarz is arguing that the board violated its fiduciary duty to the company by deciding to “chase viewers by promoting the false stolen election claims” which in turn exposed Fox to “public ridicule and negatively impacted the credibility of Fox News as a media organization that is supposed to accurately report newsworthy events.” Schwarz also alleges that “Fox knew—from the board down—that Fox News was reporting false and dangerous misinformation” about the election but was “more concerned about short-term ratings and market share” than the long-term damage of the lies. Abby Grossberg, the fired FOX producer, says FOX has secret Rudy tapes about Dominion Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast Abby Grossberg, the former Tucker Carlson producer accusing Fox News of pressuring her to give false testimony in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, filed amended legal complaints on Tuesday claiming there are secret Fox audio recordings of Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies. Grossberg, who is suing the conservative network for harassment and a toxic work environment, claims that the behind-the-scenes conversations with Giuliani, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and Trump campaign officials featured them admitting they had no evidence to support their Dominion election fraud lies. Wonder why FOX hasn’t settled? It’s because they would have to tell the truth about themselves. Sarah K. Burris, Raw Story, from a conversation on Nicolle Wallace’s Deadline White House "Every day, more damaging stuff comes out," Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said. "How many times do you have to step on a rake before you get hurt? I think they haven't settled because they'd have to go on the air every 30 minutes and say, 'We were wrong. The election was not stolen. Go on with your day.' They are so worried about losing their audience with Newsmax. They'd rather go down with a sinking ship than make those admissions." ✂️ (stuff about already prepping for an appeal) "That's where executives are looking because they realize that it's going to be a tough case for them to win in Delaware," he explained. "They also — that's exactly right, this point about having to apologize, Dominion wants not only a lot of money from Fox but they want an apology. They want an acknowledgment from Fox that it was wrong to report what it did about voter fraud and its machines. They are not going to get that absent some major, major change in thinking inside Fox that I'm just unaware of." "I'm not even aware of any kind of discussions taking place around that. So this case, I think, is going to be with us for a while. And it's just the lack of a settlement so far is just one more way that is so extraordinary. You just don't see cases like this go to trial. You don't see cases like this where there are reams of damning evidence that points to actual malice in the way that there is in this case, so this one is one for the books." Repeat, and Repeat Some More Repetition is good. Repetition is good. The other side knows this. They know that if they repeat things, even false things, people start to believe them. Even when they don’t believe them, they sink in, to the point that they feel true, even when people know they’re bullsh*t. Think of all the things you know are false but also know are accepted arguments, because they’ve been repeated so often (trickle-down economics, only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun, etc). The left is different. We don’t like to repeat things, because it seems rude. And it can seem redundant to repeat truths, because they are self-evident. This puts truth at a disadvantage. Anyway, I’m repeating truths here. And asking you again to take a few steps to take down FOX News. Have you already taken some steps? Tell us about them in the comments. Have you already taken some steps? Maybe you can do them again. No reason not to contact the FCC more than once. Or your representatives, local, state, federal. Have you not taken any steps? See if there’s anything you can do. Have you encouraged others to take steps? Do that some more. The funny thing is, although many viewers are addicted to FOX and the right-wing lies, once it is stopped, they do recover. At least some of them. WHAT WE CAN DO ➡️Visit this website, Unfoxmycablebox. From their website: Pay for cable or satellite TV? You’re subsidizing Fox News whether you watch it or not. Your cable or satellite TV provider pays a subscriber fee to carry Fox News. That cost is passed directly on to YOU. Every network charges cable and satellite providers a small fee per subscriber; the one for Fox News is extraordinarily high. A typical household pays Fox News almost $2 per month—about $20 per year— via their cable or satellite provider, regardless of whether they actually watch the channel. In 2023, a wave of big contracts between Fox News and TV providers for subscriber fees are set to expire. These contracts make up a major source of Fox News’ subscriber fee revenue. If we want to stop paying the "Fox fee," now is the time to act. ➡️Complain to your cable company. If you have a cable subscription that makes you pay for FOX News, then complain to them now. Tell them you don’t want to pay for a media outlet that lies all the time. Here’s some suggested text: I’m writing to you to let you know I don’t want to have any of the money I pay you go to FOX News, which is lying to the American public, as determined by Judge Eric Davis. I expect you to reduce my bill by $X. Even if you don’t have cable for your TV pleasure, but you use a cable company for your internet, you can let them know you’re not pleased if they’re supporting FOX. ➡️ Contact government. If you feel as if that’s not enough, then contact those who have influence on the contract. Contact your governor, contact your mayor, contact your senators and your representatives. The House, with the Rs in charge, will not help, but the Senate could. Demand hearings, especially the lies exposed by Dominion. Also, some R senators are not pleased by those lies these days. They hate tRump with a passion. Suggested text: Dear Senator: FOX News is pumping poisonous propaganda into the public. Lies should not be tolerated. Judge Eric Davis even found that they are full of lies. ➡️ Write letters to the editor talking about how we’re being forced to subsidize lies that hurt us. Let other people know. Tell them on FB, Twitter, Instagram. ➡️ Afraid no one reads your stuff? Then freewayblog (thanks, freewayblogger) ➡️ Complain to the FCC (thanks, dadadata) You should contact the FCC if you have complaints or questions about the following issues: Cable Consumer Complaints . File complaints at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us Suggested text: Dear FCC: I strongly object to being forced to subsidize FOX News via my cable subscription. They are pumping propaganda for the Republican party. Judge Eric Davis has even found that they are lying. I want my bill to be reduced by these fees. Also, if you could get them off the airwaves altogether, that would be great. ➡️Do you have connections in the military? The Pentagon should pull the plug on FOX news. (Mike Lofgren, Jen Senko) At least as recently as a year ago, FOX News was the most popular cable news on the military. From the article: There is a whole library of information about how Fox News influences mom and dad to become rabid right wingers. This is hardly surprising, because Republican operative Roger Ailes teamed up with media baron Rupert Murdoch for the specific purpose of a purported "news" channel to hype Republicans and malign Democrats. Less is known about how the network propagates incitement to sedition and refusal to follow lawful orders to members of the military, the very persons charged with upholding the Constitution and national security. And the Pentagon is abetting it. As to the seriousness of the problem, a former Marine has told the authors: "Right-wing society has captured the military . . . If you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox." Another source told us that at their Air Force facility, Fox News is always blaring in common spaces during duty hours. Far from always being a service member's choice, the situation is often as at an airport lounge, where everyone is subjected to it like it or not. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken of the need to prevent political extremism in the military. Indeed, the high percentage of service members and veterans among the Capitol rioters is alarming. How do we get it out of the military? VoteVets has tried, without success, but there seems to be more opportunity now. It may not be easy. There is the first amendment. Many of the people in the military really like FOX News. On the other hand, people do recover, at least somewhat, when no longer exposed to the toxic propaganda. ➡️ Go after advertisers (thanks for the reminder, Progressive Muse) Fox News gets way too much money from cable fees, but it also gets bucks from advertisers. Boycott their advertisers. Sometimes advertisers are unaware of where their ads are going, as they work through third parties who place their commercials. But one place is tracking this: “The group is called Check My Ads and they have been profiled by media like NPR and Fast Company” (Progressive Muse). You may find helpful information there. ➡️ Turn off the station (thanks Wolvie) Apparently, there’s something called “TVBGone” — a sort of remote that allows you to turn off the station in public places. I have never used this, and it does seem kind of rude. Maybe some military personnel should get this... ➡️Use the divisions between FOX and tRUmp. This is attacking FOX from the right, or rather from the crazy, but it is one way to weaken them. If you are speaking to tRump lovers who love FOX, let them know that the hosts all hate him. x 2/And, Tucker continued, speaking of Trump’s presidency: “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.” — Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) March 8, 2023 Even if your FOX-loving acquaintances refuse to believe you, the message sinks in. 👢 Let’s kick FOX “News” when it’s down, so it stops being an existential threat. ➡️ Do you have other ideas? Please post them down below. ➡️ Have you already done something? Please, tell us your story! 🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recentoffering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wantsto save birdkind from extinction, and sequels, Scavengers of Mind and the brand-new Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’rereally cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also availableon Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one forlovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paidif you turn the pages. 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