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    Former Fox News reporter says in lawsuit he was fired after challenging Jan. 6 coverage

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1224 Views
    Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump stand on vehicles and the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Jason Donner, a former Fox News producer says in a lawsuit filed Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, he was targeted and fired for pushing back against false claims about the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Donner said he was part of a “purge” of employees who refused to report information that would please Trump and his supporters. Donner was inside the Capitol during the riot and pressed his complaints about the networks coverage for months(AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

    By Lindsay Whitehurst

    WASHINGTON (AP) --

    A former Fox News reporter says in a lawsuit he was targeted and fired for pushing back against false claims about the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    In the suit filed in federal court Monday, producer Jason Donner said he was part of a "purge" of employees who refused to only report information that would "appease" former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

    Donner was inside the Capitol when the mob of Trump supporters breached the building. When he heard Fox News reporting that rioters were "peaceful" and "severely disappointed," he called the control room, using expletives as he said, "you're gonna get us all killed," the suit states.

    A spokeswoman for Fox News did not immediately return an email message seeking comment on the lawsuit.

    Donner also debunked Tucker Carlson's "Patriot Purge," a program on the Fox Nation streaming service that argued Jan. 6 was used as a pretext for persecution of conservative Americans.

    Fox managers, though, were focused on wooing viewers who supported Trump, and as Donner pressed his complaints he was was eventually targeted by a manager who accused him of being irresponsible for calling in sick once while he was recovering from a COVID-19 vaccine, the lawsuit claimed. He was fired in 2022.

    A longtime Republican who affiliated with Democrats more recently, Donner said he was illegally discriminated and retaliated against because of his political views. He is seeking unspecific damages.

    The lawsuit was first filed in Washington's Superior Court Sept. 27 and subsequently moved to federal court.

    Fox also faced a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems and paid nearly $800 million this year to settle the case alleging that Fox knowingly promoted false conspiracy theories about the security of its voting machines. It is also facing a suit from a second voting-machine company.

    The network also paid $12 million to settle with Abby Grossberg, another former producer who claimed that she faced a discriminatory workplace and that the network coerced her into giving false or misleading testimony in the Dominion suit.

    A former Trump supporter who became the center of a conspiracy theory about Jan. 6 has also sued the network, claiming the network made him a scapegoat for the riot.

    Tags:Fox NewsinsurrectionJason DonnerTucker Carlson



    What will happen to CNBC and MSNBC when they no longer have a corporate connection to NBC News?

    Thursday, November 21, 2024
    MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, left, Lawrence O'Donnell, center, and Chris Matthews take part in a panel discussion at the NBC Universal summer press tour, Aug. 2, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

    Comcast's corporate reorganization means that there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News.

    How that affects viewers of those networks, along with the people who work there, still needs to shake out. Their new corporate leader, Mark Lazarus, visited the set of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" as the plan was being announced on Wednesday and spoke to network staff members during a morning conference call to address concerns.

    Comcast is spinning off most of its cable networks, also including USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel, into a separate company. That recognizes how streaming is considered the future and the cable networks are a drag on the bottom line.

    In the space of a lifetime, the networks went from upstarts aside a legacy operation like NBC to profitable superstars to castoffs.

    Questions range from the simple to complex
    Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Universal Media Group, is becoming CEO of the newly-formed company of cable networks, temporarily dubbed "SpinCo." Cesar Conde, who as NBC Universal News Group chairman had oversight of CNBC and MSNBC, will lose those networks from his portfolio, yet remain in charge of NBC News, NBC News Now streaming, Telemundo and the news operations of the NBC-owned local stations.

    The presence of Lazarus and Anand Kini, who will be chief operating officer and chief financial officer of SpinCo, is a good sign for the new company, said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, research analyst for the Bank of America. "You can't dismiss it as getting rid of the crappy assets, because these are talented executives," she said.

    At MSNBC, questions about the future range from the... Read More

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