On Fox News, Network’s Settlement With Dominion Gets Little Coverage

Fox News's settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, reached at the last minute on Tuesday, was covered by every TV news network except one: Fox News.

Fox News covered the $787.5-million settlement only three times in four hours, which is about six minutes. The network's hosts seemed to have focused on other topics, such as illegal immigration and Covid-19’s possible origins, for most of the day. This included the prime time shows.

The settlement was the main story on CNN and MSNBC well into the night. Anderson Cooper, the host of "Anderson Cooper 360", devoted his primetime program to the case. He also interviewed Davinda Brow, the lead counsel for Dominion.

Neil Cavuto is the host of Fox News' afternoon news show "Your World with Neil Cavuto". He covered the settlement when it was first announced and again once the dollar amount had been revealed. Howard Kurtz, Fox News media analyst, said to Mr. Cavuto the claims of election fraud against Dominion are "obviously untrue" and "conspiracy theory".

More than an hour after a settlement was announced, the news network published a story on its homepage. The story contained the official statement of the network and called the lawsuit'media fodder.' By Tuesday evening the story had risen to around 30th place on the homepage.

Fox News has declined to comment.

In the run-up to trial, the news network initially avoided the subject. In February, Mr. Kurtz spoke out about the lack of coverage Fox News had given the lawsuit. He told viewers: "I believe that I should be covering this."

He continued: "But, the company has decided that, as a part of an organization being sued, I cannot talk or write about this, at least for the moment." As an employee, it is my duty to follow the company's decision.

Kurtz, as the trial approached, devoted four segments on the case. He said he would give "fair and balanced coverage."