Dear MoveOn member,

We'll cut to the chase: We want to put an ad on Fox News that shows the
contrast between what hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham were
spouting on air about the 2020 election and what they were saying in
private—namely, that they all knew it was a Big Lie.



[ [link removed] ]Purchasing an ad like this is expensive, so we need your help to make
sure we have the funds to pull this off. John, can you chip
in $3?



Why do we want to do this now? Because this is the best chance we've had
in years to effectively take down Fox News.

Last week, an explosive court filing was released as part of a $1.6
billion defamation case against Fox News that contained hundreds of emails
and text messages from Fox hosts and executives privately discussing how
ludicrous Donald Trump's claims of election fraud were—while they
simultaneously promoted those lies on air.^1

Immediately following Election Day in 2020, Fox News picked up the mantle
of Trump's Big Lie, allowing members of his legal team, including Sidney
Powell and Rudy Giuliani, to appear repeatedly in prime time pushing
baseless lies and conspiracy theories without any pushback from the hosts.

But while Tucker Carlson sat back and allowed these lies to go
unchallenged on air, this is what he was saying behind the scenes:

"This software s*** is absurd … Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I
caught her. It's insane."^2,3

Laura Ingraham, who also had Sidney Powell on her show multiple times and
went so far as to call on the attorney general to take action to overturn
the election, responded to Carlson: "Sidney is a complete nut. No one will
work with her. Ditto with Rudy."^4 

Sean Hannity was even more blunt, calling Giuliani, Powell, and Trump's
cast of conspiratorial lawyers "F***ing lunatics."^5

Even Rupert Murdoch himself agreed that these lies were dangerous, texting
another Fox executive that allowing Powell and others to continue spewing
these lies on air was "Terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear."^6

But rather than use this as a moment to come clean and correct the lies it
knowingly sold as news to its viewers, Fox News is doubling down.

This is exactly what we want to highlight in our ad. We will cut back and
forth between what Carlson, Ingraham, Murdoch, and others were saying
behind the scenes, with videos showing them perpetuating these lies on air
at the same time.

By doing this, we can show Fox News viewers that they cannot trust any of
the information coming from the network, increase the pressure on
advertisers to cut ties with Fox, and add attention to our campaign
calling on cable providers to allow customers to opt out of including Fox
News in their cable package.

MoveOn supports advertiser boycotts of Fox—indeed, we have a longstanding
policy against placing any ads with them ourselves. But we're making an
exception because this is an exceptional moment for accountability—placing
an ad on Fox is the best way we can expose their lies to their own viewers
and make an outsize impact on their overall business.



[ [link removed] ]If we succeed here, we can help break their stranglehold and cut off a
vitally important propaganda arm for the right wing. Please help us get
this ad on the air by chipping in $3 now.



John, we've known for years that Fox News was anything but
"news." Their hosts clearly know that much of what they're saying on air
is a lie.

But as Tucker Carlson pointed out in another text message, "Our viewers
are good people and they believe it."^7

There's the rub. Fox News is the most-watched cable news network on
television.^8 Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity host the
most-viewed primetime cable news programs each week.^9 And every night,
these hosts are knowingly lying to their millions of viewers, promoting
racism and bigotry, pushing conspiracies, and inciting violence. They know
they're doing it, they know the consequences, and they just don't care.

And that's what makes them so dangerous.

The white man behind the race massacre at the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo,
New York last year released a manifesto in which he cited Tucker Carlson's
repeated promotion of the racist and antisemitic "great replacement
theory" as one of the driving forces behind his decision to murder 10
Black people that day.^10

And it is fair to say that without Fox News's constant promotion of
Trump's Big Lie, the deadly insurrection on January 6 would not have been
possible.

Fox News has been allowed to hold on to their power for far too long. It's
time they lost it.



[ [link removed] ]Help us kick-start that process by getting our ad on Fox News's own
air. Chip in $3 now.



Thanks for all you do.

–David, Chloe, Jennifer, Mona, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "A juicy new legal filing reveals who really controls Fox News," Vox,
February 18, 2023
[link removed]

2. Ibid.

3. "Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims.
'Crazy Stuff.'" The New York Times, February 22, 2023
[link removed]

4. Ibid.

5. "'Mind Blowingly Nuts': Fox News Hosts And Execs Repeatedly Denounced
2020 Election Fraud Off-Air—Here Are Their Most Scathing Comments,"
Forbes, February 17, 2023
[link removed]

6. "The 'wackadoodle' foundation of Fox News' election-fraud claims," NPR,
February 20, 2023
[link removed]

7. "Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims.
'Crazy Stuff.'" The New York Times, February 22, 2023
[link removed]

8. "These Are the Top-Rated Cable News Shows of 2022," AdWeek, January 3,
2023
[link removed]

9. Ibid.

10. "What the shooting in Buffalo has to do with Fox News host Tucker
Carlson," NPR, May 17, 2023
[link removed]
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