... OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr has testified that the inspiration to launch OAN in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

“They told us they wanted a conservative network,” Herring said during a 2019 deposition seen by Reuters. “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.”

Since then, AT&T has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue, court records show. Ninety percent of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV, according to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant. ...

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oneamerica-att/

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28776710

#ATT #OANN #OAN #OneAmericaNews #DirecTV #WarnerMedia #HBO #AWE #Fascism #Disinformation #Misinformation #Propaganda #Monopoly

Special Report: How AT&T helped build far-right One America News

America’s top telecom giant nurtured OAN, the pro-Trump news channel now at the center of a bitter national divide over politics and truth.