"There isn't any accountability in this settlement. Fox writes a check and then goes right back to doing what they do. The same lineup of on-air propagandists don't miss a beat, and their audience chalks the whole thing up to some nonsense invented by the left-wing media. I'm sure Dominion's lawyers are very pleased with themselves, but they left the country worse off." - Comment on Washington Post
Alas, Dominion Voting Systems decided to settle with FOX News, despite the fact the Delaware judge had all but assured a straight run to a trial 'W' and no allowance of wacked out 1st amendment nonsense. The result now is there is no accountability as FOX wasn't even forced to give an apology.
The only statement made was a bland burp acknowledging the ruling, oh and that FOX would now "continue to uphold the highest journalistic standards" - which had CNN's Jake Tapper doubled over in derisive laughter. This is given that even-handedness, sober reporting and critical examination of claims are two aspects of such standards.
Dominion's pusillanimous punt had the Trumpers who frequent the WSJ comments section already declaring:
"Terrific! Now the real lying liars can be exposed at The Wash Post, CNN, NY Times and MSNBC! And Rupert barely lost his yearly vacation home property tax money!"
And if you think such reactions weren't that bad, wait for the runup to next year's general election, and even before that. Where you'll see countless memes to the effect that "Dominion had no choice other than to settle as they had no case."
As for Dominion's legal team and supporting lawyer punditry, they can argue all they want that it was not Dominion's job or duty to "litigate democracy or make history" but the fact is they allowed FOX an escape route and because of that they can expect more of the same treatment they got last time in mext year's election. FOX News has basically been granted carte blanche to continue its pugilistic pseudo-journalism at the cost of the country's integrity.
A dismal day for our democracy, though one can still hope Smartmatic Voting Co. - with its $2.7 billion suit - can do what Dominion would not. But hey, I'm not holding my breath.
One of the best articles on this fiasco follows from Robert Reich:
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Friends,
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems have agreed to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. (Dominion had sued for $1.6 billion over allegations that Fox defamed the voting company by knowingly or recklessly airing false claims tying voting machines to a conspiracy to undermine the 2020 presidential election.)
A lawyer for Dominion celebrated the agreement, saying, “Money is accountability.”
Rubbish. The Fox Corporation has an estimated value around $17 billion. The settlement amounts to a cost of doing business for Fox.
The settlement also means that Fox’s major figures — including Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, and Fox hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo — won’t have to testify.
Which in turn means they won’t have to explain all the pretrial evidence (emails, depositions, and so on) showing that they knew Trump lied about the 2020 election being “stolen” but they went ahead and joined Trump’s lie nonetheless — in order not to lose viewers to Newsmax, One America News, or any other group to their right with even fewer scruples — so they’d preserve their revenue stream.
Fox said in a statement that “we acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” It added: “We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”
Move forward?
What about an apology from Fox? From these Fox hosts? A confession of complicity in Trump’s big lie? A promise to stop lying in the future?
Nada.
Dominion may have protected its trademark, but it hasn’t protected American democracy.
Nothing about the lawsuit or its settlement has been aired on Fox News. Fox viewers continue to be in the dark about all of it — Trump’s big lie, Fox’s amplification of the big lie, the lawsuit, and the emails and pretrial testimony showing that Fox News and its hosts knew it was all a big lie.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to push his big lie. Presumably, Fox News will continue to push it as well because, hey, it sells to the Trump base that Fox News helped create.
And that’s really what this is all about: Money. Money to Trump. Money to Dominion. Money to Murdoch. Money to people such as Carlson and Hannity and Ingraham and Bartiromo — all of whom long ago cashed in their integrity for big bucks.
Even though their traitorous behavior has brought America to the cusp of civil war — including an attack on the U.S. Capitol — they’ll continue to do whatever is necessary (short of defaming a deep-pocketed voting machine company) to keep the money flowing in their direction.
Yesterday, the Grifter-in-Chief announced the release of a second round of superhero-style digital trading cards with cartoonish images of him at $99 apiece.
Fox’s and Trump’s grift goes on.
See Also:
by Alex Henderson | April 22, 2023 - 7:13am | permalink
The trial for Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News was avoided on Tuesday, April 18 when plaintiff Dominion and defendant Fox reached a settlement. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million, and the right-wing cable news channel has been spared the embarrassing testimony that Dominion's attorneys were getting ready to present during the trial.
But Fox News is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic, whose lawyer, Erik Connolly, discussed that case with CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday, April 20.
Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News is similar to Dominion's. Like Dominion, Smartmatic alleges that it was defamed when Fox News, following the 2020 presidential election, promoted the bogus, thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that its equipment was used to help President Joe Biden steal the election from former President Donald Trump. But Smartmatic has sued Fox News for a larger amount than Dominion.
And:
by Amanda Marcotte | April 21, 2023 - 7:36am | permalink
Excerpt:
The most striking thing about the Fox News statement released Tuesday afternoon is the utter lack of remorse. The network had just settled a massive lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, right before the opening of a defamation trial caused by Fox repeatedly airing conspiracy theories accusing the ballot box company of stealing the 2020 election from Donald Trump.
"We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false," the Fox statement reads, before going on to insist on "FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."
The statement is, in a word, preposterous. It's phrased in a way as to imply the falsehoods were unintentional, even though the evidence from pre-trial court documents shows Fox leadership openly discussing the choice to intentionally air information they knew to be untrue. There's no apology. The false claim of "highest journalistic standards" is pure gaslighting. It's so silly that CNN's Jake Tapper struggled not to laugh while reading it.
And:
by Brandon Gage | April 19, 2023 - 6:45am | permalink
Dominion Voting Systems accepted a settlement offer from Fox News on Tuesday in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network's willful false reporting and propagation of former President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
And:
Opinion | Dominion settles with Fox News, but where's the apology? - The Washington Post
And:
Opinion | Why Fox News Had to Settle With Dominion - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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