![]() ![]() “We have to be out there and be known if we’re going to succeed in this business.” “At least we are making progress, where we’re getting out there,” Herring said. In fact, he said, he appreciates the attention. In a rare interview Wednesday, Herring told Reuters that criticism from former employees and Trump opponents does not faze him. The court files, which include a federal pollution indictment against one of his former companies, also reveal a man prone to alleging conspiracies and engaging in scorched-earth litigation. The records and interviews depict Herring as a hard-driving executive with a knack for prescient timing. Since November, Herring’s OAN has become a leading TV purveyor of false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against former President Donald Trump, helping fuel new voting restrictions and a wave of threats against election officials in several states. ![]() A Reuters review of 33 court cases, many not previously reported, and interviews with two dozen associates reveal how the man running a once-obscure news channel made a fortune from scratch and came to play an outsize role in American politics. The episodes provide a window into Herring’s pugnacious style and impatience with government regulation. Last year, a jury ruled that OAN fired a Black producer in retaliation for filing a racial discrimination complaint to Herring. The jury awarded the man $1.1 million. In retaliation, a court judgment reviewed by Reuters shows, Herring fired an employee who told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about illegal pollution at the plant. OAN is still available on Verizon FiOS and a few other platforms, including the Herring Networks-owned KlowdTV.Two decades before Robert Herring Sr created the far-right TV channel One America News Network, he learned that a circuit board factory he owned was under an FBI investigation. In response to the Reuters report, AT&T denied having a financial interest in OAN's success.īloomberg reports that the contract between DirectTV and Herring Networks expires in early April. In 2020, an OAN accountant testified that 90% of OAN's revenue came from a contract with AT&T owned platforms such as DirecTV, Reuters reported. Herring sued AT&T, alleging it had broken an oral promise AT&T agreed as part of a settlement to carry OAN in 2017. But after AT&T finalized its purchase of DirecTV in 2015, AT&T declined to carry OAN or any other Herring programming. said in a court deposition, Reuters reported.ĪT&T carried OAN on its U-verse platform. "They told us they wanted a conservative network," OAN founder Robert Herring Sr. OAN did not respond to requests for comment.ĪT&T faced heavy criticism last year after a Reuters report found that the telecom giant played an integral role in OAN's 2013 launch. The DirecTV spokesman declined to comment on whether OAN's specific editorial policies had anything to do with the decision to drop the network, but said that calls from outside groups didn't drive the decision. The question for DirecTV was whether OAN's programming appeals to a broad enough base of customers, given increasing programming costs and more competition for consumers. In a statement, DirecTV said it made the decision "following a routine internal review." A DirecTV spokesperson told NPR that the company looks at a wide variety of factors in deciding whether to renew a contract. The other channel, A Wealth of Entertainment, dubs itself a lifestyle channel that features luxury goods. DirecTV isn't renewing the network's contract.ĭirecTV is dropping One America News Network from its lineup, a surprise move that's sure to deal a massive blow to the network that rose to prominence during the presidency of Donald Trump.īloomberg reported Friday that the satellite TV provider notified the owner of OAN, Herring Networks Inc., that it would no longer carry the company's two channels when their contract expires. One America News White House Correspondent Chanel Rion asks a question of President Donald Trump during a briefing about the coronavirus in April 2020. ![]()
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