NEW YORK (AP) — A court filing in a lawsuit against Fox News lays bare a panic at the network that it had alienated its viewers and damaged its brand by not lining up with President Donald Trump's false claims that he had won the 2020 presidential election.

That worry — a real one, judging by Fox's ratings in the election's aftermath — played a key role in Fox not setting the record straight about unfounded fraud claims, the network's accuser contends.

"It's remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things," the filing quotes Fox Washington news executive Bill Sammon as saying....