This week, Dominion Voting reached a settlement with Fox News that avoids a trial over the news program’s consistent reporting of faulty voting machines leading to an unfair presidential election. The settlement can be considered a victory for Fox News, and a loss for the American people.
Dominion Voting sued Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, for $1.6B, citing lost revenue after the news company tarnished Dominion’s reputation. Dominion claimed that state and county officials around the country cancelled orders and avoided their machines after Fox pundits claimed the machines were unreliable or rigged. Earlier rulings had already established the falsehood of the claim, so the only question was whether Fox did so deliberately with wanton disregard for the truth. Fox’s defense was that it was merely reporting what others were saying. Yet internal emails revealed that pressure to ramp-up stolen election rhetoric came after Fox called the Arizona election for Biden, angering many of its viewers. In the end, a deal was announced hours after a jury had been sworn in to hear the case. While it is the largest defamation settlement in US history involving a media company, the deal precluded Rupert Murdoch, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity from having to testify.
Fox News is a company that has to observe the rules of its trade—just like fast food restaurants, home builders, hospitals, and every other business that deals directly with the public. Rules protect people from egregious actions by companies. Yet too many people still believe the election was stolen and that our democracy isn’t working. Democracy only works well when everyone believes it works well—when people lose faith in it, it unravels.
Ending the case early saved Fox from being humiliated and exposed as a fake news agency day-in day-out for months. Fox is not out of the woods, though: it still faces a lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting machine company. Meanwhile Dominion is suing One America Network, Newsmax, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell (My Pillow). While the $787 million Fox-Dominion settlement is likely not enough end democracy-damaging journalism, perhaps the collective consequences of all lawsuits will be enough to make news companies decide to adhere to journalistic ethics.
Source:
Geoff Mulvihill, “Fox, Dominion Reach $787M Settlement Over Election Claims,” Associated Press, 18 April 2023, accessed from https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe
Marshal Cohen, Oliver Darcy,” Fox News Settles with Dominion at the Last Second, Pays more than $787 Million to Avert Defamation Trial Over Its 2020 Election Lies,” CNN, 19 April 2023, accessed from cnn.com/2023/04/18/media/fox-dominion-settlement/index.html
Sarah Ellison, Josh Dawsey, Rosalind S Helderman, “Fox Was Resigned to a Tough Trial. Then, a Secret Mediator Stepped In,” Washington Post, 19 April 2023.
Joseph A Wulfoshn,” Fox News Media, Dominion Voting Systems Reach Agreement Over Defamation Lawsuit,” Fox News, 18 April 2023.
Photo: Mary Altaffer, AP
No responses yet