Fox News is being sued by one of its former reporters who claims he was fired for not propogating lies about the 2020 election being stolen.
Jason Donner worked for Fox News for 12 years as a Capitol Hill reporter and producer, and says the network discriminated and retaliated against him because he spoke out against the network’s coverage of the Big Lie and and the Capitol riot on January 6.
Donner’s lawsuit, which is being heard in a Washington, D.C., federal courtroom, describes in vivid detail how he and other reporters sheltered in news booths from rioters who entered the Capitol.
As they were hiding, and while reports were coming in of shots fired outside the House chamber, Fox news was broadcasting that the event was “peaceful”. Donner called the newsroom, the suit says, and exclaimed: “I don’t want to hear any of this fucking shit on our air ever again because you’re gonna get us all killed.”
After Fox called Biden the winner in the state of Arizona, there was a backlash from Trump-supporting viewers.
“To win back viewership and pledge its loyalty to President Trump, Fox’s corporate leadership purged the news division and those reporters who spoke out against claims of election fraud,” the lawsuit states.
Donner also objected to Tucker Carlson’s election conspiracy theories and the Carlson documentary, Patriot Purge.
The lawsuit says that Donner was told by a Fox manager that there was “nothing they could do because Tucker has gotten bigger than the network”.
Donner was fired on September 28, 2022, on what he claims were pretextual grounds related to the sick day he had taken two days previously having fallen ill after a Covid-19 vaccination.
The wrongful termination and discrimination claim seeks undisclosed damages and expenses, as well as a judgment that would prohibit Fox News from discriminating or retaliating against Donner or other current or former Fox News employees.