Dear John,

Fox has fired Tucker Carlson. It’s a good start, but it’s not enough.

Fox has agreed to pay Dominion Voting Services over $787 million to settle damages resulting from the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. It’s an adequate start, but it isn’t enough.

Fox’s billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch admitted in his deposition that he knew his network was lying, and he let them do it. It’s not enough.

Fox “News” is still free to dispense its endless churn of lies and disinformation about the 2020 election, the January 6 insurrection, and countless other topics. You see, it’s not actually a “news” channel at all. It is a propaganda outlet, and if you subscribe to cable, YOU are helping fund it -- even if you never watch it!

That’s because all of the major cable companies actually pay Fox for the privilege of putting Fox’s lies on the air -- using your subscriber fees to do so! These payments are called “carriage fees,” and they supply Fox with a hefty source of guaranteed income.

Tell the cable companies to stop forcing their customers to subsidize right-wing hate, lies, and disinformation! Click below to sign and send your direct message to the CEOs of Comcast, Charter, Xfinity, and Cox Cable.

Not only do these “carriage fees” help create Fox’s 35 to 40% profit margin, they actually provide the largest part of Fox’s revenue. In fact, they produce so much income that Fox could lose every advertiser and still make a profit from these fees alone.

But guess what? This could all change, if we act fast. These carriage fees are up for renegotiation right now, and Fox is on the ropes given their recent high-profile drubbing in the Dominion case and the as-yet-unsettled Smartmatic defamation suit.

The cable companies could decide to treat Fox like almost every other cable news channel and stop paying Fox any carriage fees. They could offer a Fox-free cable bundle for those who refuse to subsidize Fox any longer.

They could even decide to stop the spread of hate and disinformation by deplatforming Fox altogether.

It wouldn’t be the first time that cable companies responded to intensive grassroots pressure. Last summer, Verizon and DirecTV both stopped streaming One America News altogether in response to a similar campaign. Let’s make sure Fox is next. Send your message now.

The departure of Tucker Carlson is a good start, but if we want to put the biggest spreader of disinformation to an end, we have to finish the job and deplatform Fox.

Thank you for sending your message now, when Fox is at its weakest.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action