OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Two more well-known Fox News hosts have told friends they fear they will be next on the chopping block after Tucker Carlson was ousted.
Nina Jankowicz, the director of the now-disbanded Department of Homeland Security “Disinformation Governance Board,” filed a defamation lawsuit for allegedly promoting lies about her that harmed her career and put her at risk.
“Ms. Jankowicz, 34, filed her suit in the same Delaware state court system where Dominion Voting lodged its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The network settled that case for $787.5 million last month, avoiding a lengthy and bruising trial. (The Jankowicz suit is seeking unspecified damages.)” the New York Times reported.
“That deal represented a tacit acknowledgment that Fox’s promotion of falsehoods about election fraud in the 2020 election was wrongful. But it did not answer the question of whether Dominion would have been able to meet the high legal threshold required to prevail in defamation suits: proving that those who made the statements knew they were false or did not bother to find out. Ms. Jankowicz would have to meet that same threshold,” the outlet added.
In her suit, Jankowicz alleges that she was repeatedly demeaned and defamed by Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, and Sean Hannity.
Massive News Emerges About Jeanine Pirro After Tucker Carlson Axed From Fox Newshttps://t.co/cC0DFOCYtl
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) May 12, 2023
Tucker Carlson Tells Reporter He Will Announce Candidacy For President – Then Hits Him With Stunnerhttps://t.co/Si0rS5zayh
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) May 12, 2023
Bartiromo’s name is of interest given another recent report from Rolling Stone, citing sources within the network, stated that Jeanine Pirro and Bartiromo have told friends they are concerned they could be next to be shown the exit.
“According to people with knowledge of the matter, executives have recently held high-level discussions about Fox Business host Bartiromo’s future at the company. In recent years, the host became a mouthpiece for Trump, propping up conspiracy theories and peddling lies about the 2020 election,” Rolling Stone noted.
“Those falsehoods found their way into a Dominion Voting Systems filing in the company’s mega-lawsuit against Fox. The filing pointed to Bartiromo’s Nov. 8 interview with Trump-aligned attorney, Sidney Powell, to discuss ‘voting irregularities’ — on-air programming that contrasted sharply with the host’s Dominion deposition statements, in which Bartiromo said the email underpinning Powell’s claims was ‘nonsense,'” the outlet noted further.
‘You’ve Been Canceled': Fox News Host Fired Seconds Before Show Started As Network Is In Shambleshttps://t.co/MfET802WvP
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) May 3, 2023
Megyn Kelly Drops Bombshell – Insider Knowledge On Who At Fox News Is Sabotaging Tucker Carlsonhttps://t.co/lnfT4NSelQ
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) May 2, 2023
Last month, Fox agreed to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit for an eye-watering $787.5 million. The ballot software company had sought more than $1 billion in damages.
One of the sources familiar with the matter stated that Pirro, a vocal Trump advocate whose assertions about election fraud were cited by Dominion in their legal documents, has also been expressing concerns to close associates about the possibility of being fired, the report said.
“It’s not just hosts who are anxious. Other sources at and close to the network say that, in the wake of Carlson’s ouster, some Fox brass have grilled certain staff about whether they or their teams had recently blabbed to the press about Carlson’s abrupt dismissal,” Rolling Stone added.
Several Fox News staffers have taken additional precautions to protect their communications with outside media after a series of leaks related to Carlson, the outlet claimed. The leaks have continued despite efforts to stop them, leading some employees to change journalist contacts to fake names in case they receive a call while in the presence of management or others who might report their activities.
One employee referred to such people as “spies,” suggesting they were actively looking to report colleagues’ alleged infractions to upper management, Rolling Stone noted further.
Megyn Kelly Shares Bombshell On Tucker Carlson – He Has Not Been Fired From Fox News.https://t.co/SW1ul6ZQep
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) April 28, 2023
The firing came as Carlson had been negotiating a new contract that would have reportedly kept him at the network through 2029, according to an Independent report.
It’s still not clear why the network let Carlson go, but a growing number of reports have quoted sources who believe it was related to subjects Carlson was covering on his show that made upper management nervous.
