A Smartmatic court filing has revealed a survey conducted by Fox News’ human resources department, which found that the staff expressed a “resounding lack of confidence” in the company as a news organization. The survey highlighted significant employee concerns regarding ethics, fair treatment, and the network’s efforts to fact-check and report news fairly and accurately.
Smartmatic is using these internal employee comments as part of its ongoing lawsuit against Fox News, alleging that the network and several of its on-air personalities defamed the company.
The most notable remarks appear on pages 550-554 of the filing, where HR shared feedback from some employees. One staff member criticized the network’s tone, saying, “The racial rhetoric spewed on air. It’s everything but [Fair] and Balanced,” referencing Fox News’ former slogan that was retired in 2017. The employee added, “I sometimes go home fighting back tears. This network made me question my morals. Have I sold my soul to the devil?”
Another employee expressed frustration with the network’s political alignment: “I wish we would get out of Trump’s pocket and realize people like Tucker [Carlson], Laura [Ingraham], [Sean] Hannity, [Mark] Levin, etc. are a total embarrassment, peddling BS and conspiracy theories. Many days I feel like I am part of the problem and FNC is contributing to hatred in this country.”
Concerns about accountability were also voiced. One employee complained to HR, “There is total lack of accountability when highly rated anchors like Tucker, Hannity and Laura say outrageous things that are outright racist and xenophobic. There is not enough quality control to keep conspiracy theories off the air.”
Despite acknowledging positive aspects of Fox News, some staff felt the network’s political stance compromised its credibility. “There is so much good about Fox, but serving as the committee to re-elect Trump puts us on the same footing as Breitbart, and it is very hard to defend at times,” one wrote.
Another staffer urged on-air talent to dedicate themselves to honesty and integrity: they should “tell viewers the truth, and to bolster their arguments with hard, proven facts given in full context, rather than spin or reckless conjecture that causes harm to real people (just one example of many: the Seth Rich conspiracy theory).”
These revelations shed light on internal struggles within Fox News, especially concerning journalistic ethics and the influence of political agendas on news reporting.
https://www.rawstory.com/fox-news-2674206251/