A former Fox News reporter sued the network, claiming he was fired in retaliation for his efforts to challenge the on-air lies about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, according to court filings.
Jason Donner worked for Fox News as a reporter and producer for 12 years before saying in a lawsuit filed Sept. 27 that he had been targeted after raising concerns with his superiors over false statements aired on Fox News. The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and transferred Monday to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit alleges that Fox News knew President Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims were false, but continued to air them anyway and “purged” journalists who spoke out.
“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 suit says.
The network did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Donner was working inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 when rioters stormed the building. When seeing Fox News reporting of the riot as “peaceful,” Donner called the control room to complain that the inaccurate reports would “get us all killed.”
According to the filing, Donner continued to complain about Fox’s false information on-air in the aftermath of the riot. Then, on Sept. 26, 2022, he called in sick to work and was fired two days later. Fox’s explanation was that Donner was “late for work and did not show up for work.”
The wrongful termination claim seeks undisclosed damages and expenses.
The network has already shelled out a whopping $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit brought against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems. The Dominion case included a lengthy discovery period in which large amounts of internal company communications were released to the public, showing that many hosts the executives did not believe what they were actively promoting on the network.
Fox is not out of the woods yet, as the company faces an even larger lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology company, seeking $2.7 billion in damages.
