One America News , the meshing for conservativist that have wriggled down the far - right coney hole so deep they think Fox News is anti - Donald Trump propaganda , is reportedly for the most part run on the dime bag of AT&T and its former underling DirecTV .
According to aReuters investigationposted Wednesday , these two rotten apples — one of themost - hat telecomsin the country and an amoral propaganda connection thatpromotes conspiracy theoriesand airsdreams of fascist violence — are bosom brother , with OAN able to fund operations almost exclusively thanks to AT&T ’s historic largesse . Reuters reviewed tourist court record and found that OAN founder and Herring Networks CEO Robert Herring Sr . testified in a 2019 deposition that AT&T executives encouraged him to startle the company in 2013 , and the telecommunication was responsible for pouring cash into it moving forward .
“ They tell us they wanted a materialistic web , ” Herring said during the deposition , Reuters cover . “ They only had one , which was Fox News , and they had seven others on the other [ leftwing ] side . When they said that , I jumped to it and built one . ”
Rioters storm the Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, 2021 in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.Photo: Jose Luis Magana / File (AP)
OAN ’s revenue comes almost exclusively from its deal with former AT&T subsidiary DirecTV , which this yearspun offinto an independent caller with a majority stake ( 70 % ) owned by AT&T. Reuters found that during a labor suit alleging racial secernment at the mesh in 2019 , an OAN accountant issued pledged testimony that 90 % of OAN ’s income stems from streaming organization with DirecTV and other AT&T - owned TV supplier . The accountant say that without support from AT&T , the company would be totally worthless , and its assets at the fourth dimension would amount to just $ 16.6 million .
State and federal tourist court document obtained by Reuters further show that in 2013 AT&T offer to buy a 5 % wager in OAN and Herring ’s other net , a little - known lifestyle channel thatmostly broadcastsprogramming for the ultra - rich that is now named AWE . Though OAN president Charles Herring ( one of the Herring sons ) said in a swan statement he take over the offering verbally , the mess never went through . rather , A&T offer Herring Networks a deal to pay them 18 cent a month for each of its 5.7 million U - Verse client , which is about a million horse monthly .
accord to Reuters , Charles Herring also said that when AT&T announced it would acquire DirecTV in 2014 , Herring Networks first tried to ingratiate itself with the telecommunication by having OAN foyer in favor of the merger . regulator okay the DirecTV acquisition the next year . This likely had little to do with whatever influence campaign OAN may have mount , and in Reuter ’s apprisal , AT&T did n’t want OAN or AWE along for the drive as it migrated U - Verse customers to DirecTV . So the Herrings process , and in 2017 obtain a liquidation in which the telecommunication agreed to give them a lucrative deal powerful as Trump’sputrid four twelvemonth in officewas kicking off .
OAN and its anchors have feed viewers a steady stream of far - right punditry and dupery posing as reporting , in particular unfounded conspiracy theories that Trump was the real victor of the 2020 elections . For object lesson , it interviewed Ron Watson , the former administrator of fringe imageboard 8chan/8kun who is wide distrust to be theman behind QAnon , as though he was anelection security expert . OAN spread Trygve Lie that“antifa”and / or“anti - Trump extremists”were behind the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol bestride by Trump supporters trying to overturn the election , then soft - pedaled its subsequent coverage to look likenothing major had bump .
OAN continued to refer to Trump on its web site as “ President Trump ” until April 2021 , well over a calendar month after the ex - President of the United States had fled to Mar - a - Lago to simmer . In June 2021 , an OAN anchorfantasized on - airabout multitude carrying into action of those behind the notional election “ coup . ” The mesh was one of thebiggest backersof thefraudulent election “ audit”in Arizona which unsuccessfully assay to discredit the res publica ’s 2020 results . When it ’s not fend for Trump ’s laurels , OAN for the most part airsculture warfare drool , antivax nonsense , and otherparanoid extremismabout everything from immigration toBlack Lives Matter protest .
Earlier this calendar month , former Trump military press secretary Stephanie Grisham , who is on something of an image - reclamation enlistment , referred to OANas “ like state - work media . ” TheDaily Beast reportedthat disgrace former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani , who is beinginvestigated by the feds , enounce in a aspersion suit that OAN president Charles Herring had assigned anchor Christina Bobb to work on Trump ’s failed suit seeking to have the election thrown out . Trump ’s effort was given veto power over Bobb ’s reporting , Guiliani claim .
Reuters reported that OAN has actually done quite well for itself even as Trump failed to persist in function and its fabricated reporting run out to pan out . Sensor Tower data cited by Reuters showed a track record 767,000 mass installed its app in November 2021 after Fox News admitted Biden won , while Similarweb data point record its monthly entanglement traffic transfix to 15 million from then until January 2021 and now stay at an average of eight million . Reuters was ineffective to figure OAN ’s factual TV viewership , but former OAN Washington agency headman Neil W. McCabe narrate the news way that its reliance on fees from cable , satellite , and streaming providers allows OAN to minimize advertising and immunizes it from boycotts . An home AT&T filing prevail by Reuters showed that if numbers cite by the Herrings are correct , DirecTV would be pay OAN $ 57 million for a five - twelvemonth contract .
OAN ’s cautious television competition Fox News alsofamously relieson fees from cable provider to stay on the air .
“ We have always attempt to provide a wide variety of content and scheduling that would be of interest to client , and do not dictate or control scheduling on TV channel we sway , ” AT&T voice Jim Greer enjoin Reuters . “ Any proffer otherwise is wrong . ”
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