Fox News Fires Producer *

Fox News has severed its ties with Abby Grossberg, a booker and producer who had worked with hosts Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo, according to a report by Variety. The network cut ties with Grossberg citing the disclosure of privileged corporate information. Grossberg had alleged in court filings earlier in the week that she was coerced by executives into providing misleading testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation suit that Dominion Voting Systems had levied against Fox News.

Grossberg had filed lawsuits in Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in which she alleged that Fox News attorneys worked to manipulate and coerce her to deliver shaded and incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony. The allegations, made just as Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., were set to meet in a hearing in Delaware to find out if the Dominion case would proceed to trial, have raised eyebrows.

The Dominion suit has been explosive, with the company alleging that it is owed damages after Fox News aired false claims about the company’s actions and influence on the 2020 election. Depositions released in the case have damaged the credibility of Fox executives and anchors, several of whom expressed skepticism in texts and emails about some of the claims made about Dominion by interviewees on Fox programs.

Fox News released a statement, saying that like most organizations, its attorneys engage in privileged communications with its employees as necessary to provide legal advice. The statement added that Grossberg had ignored the communications and filed her complaint without taking any steps to protect the portions containing Fox’s privileged information.

Grossberg had also alleged the prevalence of a rough culture within Fox News’ corridors, with women treated badly and Carlson staffers making crude remarks about women and Jews.

Both sides in the Dominion case are currently waiting to hear from Judge Eric Davis as to whether he will order the case to go to trial or if he will decide its outcome on his own. The judge may also have decisions about what information can be used in the case and which executives will be required to testify, and whether they must do so in person.

The case is likely to be one of the most-talked-about spectacles in the media industry in 2023 if it goes to trial. Dominion has said in a statement earlier this week that it looks forward to the court's ruling.