Fox News

Quick Take

At least 19 former Fox News personalities were appointed to senior posts in President Trump's second-term administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.[3] In April 2023, Fox paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle defamation claims related to 2020 election coverage, the largest publicly reported media defamation settlement in U.S. history.[4] In September 2025, the Murdoch family settled a years-long succession battle that explicitly turned on whether Fox News would remain conservative after Rupert Murdoch's death; eldest son Lachlan Murdoch retained control while his three more politically moderate siblings agreed to be bought out.[5] Pew Research reported in July 2025 that 57 percent of Republicans regularly get news from Fox News, compared with 18 percent of Democrats, and that 56 percent of Republicans trust the network while 64 percent of Democrats distrust it.[17]

Public Political Activity

Fox Corporation operates a federal corporate political action committee known as FOXPAC. In the 2024 election cycle, FOXPAC's candidate giving was split nearly evenly between parties, with Republicans receiving 50.4 percent and Democrats receiving 49.6 percent according to OpenSecrets' candidate-recipient summary.[7] PAC-to-party-committee giving in the same cycle tilted slightly toward Democratic recipients (51.3 percent versus 48.7 percent Republican).[7] Total reported organizational contributions for the 2024 cycle were roughly $2.94 million across all categories.[7] The corporate-PAC pattern is balanced and is a recurring feature of large publicly traded media-company giving.

Personal political donations by the company's controlling shareholders tell a different story. Reporting from Press Gazette compiling FEC data found that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch collectively gave more than $2.5 million during the 2019-2020 cycle, mostly to Republican candidates and committees.[8] Lachlan Murdoch made a $1 million contribution to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with then-Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, during that cycle.[8] OpenSecrets has separately reported that since the 1990 election cycle, Rupert Murdoch's personal federal political contributions have run approximately 80 percent to Republican beneficiaries.[9]

Fox Corporation reported approximately $4.23 million in federal lobbying expenditures in 2024 on issues including telecommunications regulation, copyright, and broadcast policy.[7]

Public Positions & Statements

Fox News Channel's weekday primetime opinion block consists of Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity, The Ingraham Angle, and Gutfeld!, all of which have publicly conservative editorial postures.[10] Daytime opinion show The Five was the most-watched cable news program in the United States in 2024, and features a single rotating left-of-center co-host opposite four conservative-leaning co-hosts.[10] News-division programming includes Special Report with Bret Baier, America Reports, America's Newsroom, and other hard-news anchored hours alongside the opinion lineup.[10]

Pew Research Center reported in July 2025 that 57 percent of Republicans regularly get news from Fox News, compared with 18 percent of Democrats; that 56 percent of Republicans trust Fox News while 64 percent of Democrats distrust it; and that on Pew's ideological-placement scale, the average Fox News audience member sits to the right of the average U.S. adult.[17] In 2024, Fox News was the single most common outlet Americans named as their main source for political news in an open-ended Pew survey question, with 13 percent naming Fox News compared with 10 percent who named CNN.[17]

In April 2023, Fox News and Fox Corporation settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, the largest publicly reported media defamation settlement in U.S. history.[11] Dominion had alleged that Fox knowingly aired false claims that its voting machines had switched votes against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Before the settlement, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had already ruled as a matter of law that the challenged statements about Dominion were false.[4] In Fox's own post-settlement statement, the network acknowledged that "certain claims" it had aired about Dominion were false.[4]

A separate defamation suit brought by Smartmatic, another voting technology company, remains pending in New York. Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion and has accused Fox executives, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and former chief legal officer Viet Dinh, of orchestrating the destruction of evidence relating to the suit. Fox has denied the accusations. In January 2025, a New York appellate panel ruled that Fox Corporation must face trial on the defamation claim, denying Fox's motion to dismiss and finding that Smartmatic had sufficiently alleged Fox Corp was directly liable for on-air statements suggesting Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election.[18]

In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment charging Smartmatic itself with foreign bribery and money laundering related to over $1 million in payments allegedly made to a Philippine election official to secure 2016 voting machine contracts.[19] In subsequent rulings, the New York appellate court has granted Fox additional discovery into the impact of the federal criminal proceedings on Smartmatic's business, while denying Fox's motion to stay the civil case pending the criminal matter.[6] Smartmatic separately reached settlements with Newsmax for $40 million and with One America News on confidential terms over similar 2020 election claims.[12]

The Fox-to-Republican-politics pattern predates the second Trump administration. On the eve of the 2018 midterm elections, Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro joined President Trump on stage at a campaign rally in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where Hannity told the crowd that "all those people in the back are fake news" while pointing toward Fox News colleagues covering the event. Fox News issued a statement the following day calling the appearance an "unfortunate distraction" and stating that the network "does not condone any talent participating in campaign events"; Fox did not publicly disclose any disciplinary action.[20]

NPR reported in January 2025 that at least 19 former Fox News personalities had been appointed to senior positions in President Trump's second-term administration, including Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, Sean Duffy as Secretary of Transportation, Dan Bongino as FBI Deputy Director (a role he resigned from in January 2026, returning to broadcasting), and Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.[3] NPR reported that during the first Trump administration, approximately 20 Fox-affiliated individuals had been appointed to administration roles.[3] Fox News declined to comment to NPR on the pattern.[3] Beyond the direct appointments, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is married to Rachel Campos-Duffy, a Fox & Friends Weekend co-host since 2021; the couple co-hosts a Fox News Audio podcast called 'From the Kitchen Table.'[21]

Products & Services

Fox News Channel is distributed via cable and satellite providers in the United States and is the most-watched basic cable network in the country, finishing 2024 with 56 percent of the cable news primetime audience and 53 percent of total-day viewership.[10] Fox News Digital operates the foxnews.com website and is consistently among the most-trafficked news sites in the United States.[2] Fox Nation is a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service offering opinion programming, documentaries, and entertainment programming.[2] Fox News Radio distributes audio newscasts through hundreds of affiliated radio stations.[2] FOX Weather is a free ad-supported streaming weather service. Fox Business Network, a sister cable channel covering markets and finance, is part of the same Fox News Media division but is distinct from Fox News Channel.[2]

Founding & Ownership

Fox News Channel launched on October 7, 1996, after Rupert Murdoch tasked Roger Ailes, a former media adviser to Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, with building a cable news network to compete with CNN.[1] Murdoch paid cable providers to carry the network at launch rather than the customary inverse arrangement, and the channel was viewable in more than 17 million homes on its first day of broadcast.[1] Ailes ran the network as chairman and CEO until July 2016, when he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations first brought by former host Gretchen Carlson.[13] Ailes died in May 2017.[13]

The network is now part of Fox Corporation, the publicly traded company (NASDAQ: FOXA) formed in March 2019 when 21st Century Fox sold its film studios and most of its entertainment assets to The Walt Disney Company.[14] Lachlan Murdoch serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation.[14] Suzanne Scott has served as CEO of Fox News Media since May 2018, the network's first female CEO and the second CEO in its history.[15]

In December 2023, Rupert Murdoch petitioned a Nevada probate court to amend the Murdoch Family Trust, an irrevocable family trust established in 1999, so that Lachlan would retain sole voting control of Fox Corporation and News Corp after Rupert's death rather than sharing it equally with his three other adult children (Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch).[5] The stated purpose of the amendment, according to court filings reviewed by The New York Times, was to ensure Fox News maintained its conservative editorial direction after Rupert Murdoch's death; James and Elisabeth Murdoch are known to hold more politically moderate views and James has personally donated millions of dollars to Democratic-aligned causes.[16] In a December 2024 ruling, Nevada Probate Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. found that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in "bad faith" in pursuing the amendment, describing the plan as a "carefully crafted charade" intended to "permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch's executive roles" in the empire.[16] After a year of appeals, on September 8, 2025, the family reached a settlement in which Lachlan retained control of both Fox Corporation and News Corp through a new corporate structure, while Prudence, Elisabeth, and James agreed to be bought out of their voting interests.[5] Rupert Murdoch continues as Chairman Emeritus of Fox Corporation.[14]

Where to Find Them

Fox News Channel broadcasts via cable and satellite television in the United States. Fox News Digital is accessible at foxnews.com. The Fox Nation streaming service is available via web and mobile apps on a subscription basis. Fox News Radio newscasts are distributed through affiliate radio stations nationwide. The corporate parent, Fox Corporation, is headquartered in New York City.

Footnotes

[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Money, "Fox News Channel," accessed May 22, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/money/Fox-News-Channel

[2] Fox Corporation, "Suzanne Scott biography," accessed May 22, 2026. https://www.foxcorporation.com/management/business-unit-leaders/suzanne-scott/

[3] David Folkenflik, NPR, "Trump taps 19 Fox pundits, personalities and producers for second term," January 20, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268791/fox-news-trump-inauguration

[4] David Folkenflik, NPR, "Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems," April 18, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/04/18/1170339114/fox-news-settles-blockbuster-defamation-lawsuit-with-dominion-voting-systems

[5] Brian Stelter, CNN Business, "Murdoch family resolves succession dispute with Lachlan remaining in control of media empire," September 8, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/media/murdoch-lachlan-rupert-succession-court

[6] David Zimmermann, Washington Examiner, "Fox News granted additional discovery in Smartmatic voting machine case," May 7, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4559756/fox-news-additional-discovery-smartmatic-case/

[7] OpenSecrets.org, "Fox Corp Organization Profile," accessed May 22, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/fox-corp/summary?id=D000071760

[8] Heidi Legg, Press Gazette, "Research reveals millions in US political donations from media moguls but more donor transparency is needed," September 30, 2022. https://pressgazette.co.uk/comment-analysis/research-reveals-millions-in-us-political-donations-from-media-moguls-but-more-donor-transparency-is-needed/

[9] OpenSecrets News, "Murdoch family political donations summary," accessed May 22, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/search/rupert%20murdoch

[10] Mark Joyella, AdWeek, "Fox News Channel Finishes 2024 With Highest Audience Share in Nearly a Decade," January 3, 2025. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cable-news-ratings-report-2024/

[11] Brian Steinberg, Variety, "Fox to Pay $787 Million in Dominion Defamation Trial Settlement," April 18, 2023. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/fox-news-dominion-voting-settle-defamation-lawsuit-1235580530/

[12] Reuters via AOL, "Smartmatic, One America News settle election defamation lawsuit," August 6, 2024. https://www.aol.com/news/smartmatic-one-america-news-settle-185818909.html

[13] Associated Press, CBS News Los Angeles, "Fox News Architect Roger Ailes, Fired Over Sexual-Harassment Claims, Dead At 77," May 18, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/fox-news-architect-roger-ailes-fired-over-sexual-harassment-claims-dead-at-77

[14] Fox Corporation, SEC Form 10-K Filing for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2025, filed August 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001754301/000162828025038077/foxa-20250630x10kex311.htm

[15] Fox News, "Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott signs new multi-year contract," February 9, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/media/ceo-suzanne-scott-signs-new-multi-year-contract

[16] Associated Press, News 3 Las Vegas, "Nevada court rejects Rupert Murdoch bid to change family trust," December 11, 2024. https://news3lv.com/news/local/nevada-court-rejects-rupert-murdoch-bid-to-change-family-trust-fox-news-media-empire-lachlan-succession-probate-law-washoe-county-reno

[17] Pew Research Center, "6 facts about Fox News," July 17, 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/17/6-facts-about-fox-news/

[18] Jonathan Stempel, Reuters, "Fox Corp must face Smartmatic $2.7 billion defamation claim," January 9, 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-must-face-smartmatic-2-205716562.html

[19] Brian Stelter, CNN Business, "Smartmatic indicted in foreign bribery case, possibly endangering its lawsuits against Fox News and Rudy Giuliani," October 17, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/17/media/smartmatic-doj-fox-giuliani-bribery-philippines

[20] ABC News, "Fox News calls Sean Hannity's appearance at Trump rally an 'unfortunate distraction'," November 7, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fox-news-calls-sean-hannitys-appearance-trump-rally/story?id=59002981

[21] Deseret News, "Who is Rachel Campos-Duffy? What the mom of 9 wants you to know," May 8, 2026. https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2026/05/08/rachel-campos-duffy-fox-news-all-american-book/