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(CNN) – Is Rupert Murdoch’s media empire turning against Trump?
There has been significant speculation in recent days that Murdoch’s world is shifting its stance as it prepares for a post-Trump world, and there are people trying to predict what will happen next.
Yes, there are some signs that the arms of Murdoch’s empire have taken a firmer stand against the president. But there are other signs that Murdoch is still in Trump’s camp. So let’s look at some of the key developments.
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Fox propagandists are not giving up
This is the most obvious point: the most visible faces in Murdoch’s media empire, his pro-Trump propagandists, have stepped on the gas. Furthermore, they are accelerating.
Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and other Fox personalities have repeated for days Trump’s dishonest rhetoric that undermines the integrity of the American democratic process. Friday night was no different.
The rhetoric of Fox’s big stars isn’t just irresponsible, it’s dangerous. And the Murdoch and Fox executives are the ones giving the green light, allowing it to happen in their air. If Murdoch has truly turned against Trump, he certainly isn’t realizing in what is arguably the most powerful arm of his media empire …
Fox abandons “president-elect” leadership
It’s hard to know what to think about this, but two memos obtained Friday from CNN ordered Fox hosts and other staff members not to call Biden “president-elect” when the network projects him as a winner.
The memos said Fox should “avoid” using the description and instead say something like Biden has “enough electoral votes to win the presidency”. To justify the unusual positioning, the cited reminders moved by Trump’s legal teams to contest the findings. “We will report to both parties until further indications,” reads one of the memorandum.
After the CNN report, which noted that the guide could change, Fox denied that the reminders we got were a guide. Presenters soon began referring to Biden as “president-elect” in conversations about what-if scenarios …
Fox’s “news” has been more aggressive, but …
It is true that on Friday some of the Fox hosts working for the “direct news” division of the network appeared more aggressive in rejecting the disinformation of Trump allies. Bret Baier, for example, repeatedly lobbied Newt Gingrich for the nonsense he was selling on Fox Air.
But it’s also true that whenever a Fox host pressured one guest, he seemed to either encourage or amplify another’s misinformation. For example, while Baier lobbied Gingrich, Martha MacCallum said she was “completely in agreement” with a discredited narrative about a vote-counting center in Detroit …
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Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Acknowledging the Necessary Victory
Here’s another sign that Murdoch’s world may be starting to turn its back on Trump. The editors of the Wall Street Journal wrote late Friday that “whoever wins needs the other to surrender to rule.”
The council, which recognized Trump’s right to take legal action if he had evidence of wrongdoing, wrote: “Trump’s legacy will be greatly diminished if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept legitimate defeat. Republican officials will turn around and eventually the American public who wants the elections resolved.
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