Fox News Settles With Dominion for $787 Million
There was never any doubt in my mind, at any point, that Fox News, including most of its local network affiliates, put a spin on the news that made facts unrecognizable and that it served as a de-facto propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Frankly, I've really never watched it. The closest I've come is when interviews are played on other networks because certain politicians won't appear anywhere but Fox. Other than Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, I couldn't name another person who appears on the network.
That's because I want to be informed, I want to hear facts, not spin, and I want real information. I can watch cartoons and get more than I could off Fox. So I am not surprised that they were going to be held accountable financially for the slander they committed with their lying, and repeating lies, about the 2020 election. That's certainly not all they've lied about. If justice were served by circumstances, Fox would have been shut down a long time ago. But this settlement, which is obviously an amount aimed at preventing a shut-down, is quite satisfying.
As much as I hate to admit it, money is one of the only ways a company like Fox will ever be brought to justice. It has to hurt or it won't do any good. I'm not sure this will actually change anything. As long as they stay in business, they make money off lying. I don't expect them to be more cautious, just more careful about how they lie. Why they seem to think it isn't possible to spout conservative propaganda and still be truthful about it is a mystery, except that they seem to think that's what they have to do in order to keep their audience.
There are conservatives who claim that the other, "liberal" news outlets are just as bad, just as reckless with the facts, and just as assertive with the left wing propaganda. I don't doubt that, even among the best journalists, there can be a spin or perspective that comes from their bias. But the bottom line is that none of them are getting sued for defamation. Claim that they aren't telling the truth, but find facts to support the claim. That's the big difference we're looking at here. The difference between Fox News and other media outlets which their viewers label "liberal," is being open to correction by facts. Most everyone else is, Fox, along with the extremists like Newsmax or Breitbart, are not.
I've followed this case fairly closely, just to see where it might end up. The discussion on MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning speculated about Fox's ability to figure out how to divide out the payments of this settlement in order to survive. There was speculation about shifts in ownership, dividing up the company into smaller pieces and selling them off, being absorbed by another media source, or simply going out of business. There are multiple independent lawsuits related to this same issue, along with at least one other two billion dollar suit filed by Smartmatic.
What we now have are admissions from those within the company responsible for content of news and commentary broadcasts that they knew the claims about rigging voting machines was a complete and total invention of the Trump campaign, and that the "reams of documented evidence" promised by Rudy Giuliani, which never made it into a single courtroom, did not exist. This is no small amount of money, but I'm sure it represents the accounting department's best guess at what it can afford to get this out of the court without completely bankrupting the company. Unfortunately, with much more to come, based on this same lie, I don't believe Fox News will be able to continue to exist in its current form.
Personally, I believe everyone involved should be held accountable. This was a crime committed against the American people, a lie that they continued to circulate when they knew that what they were reporting wasn't true. And those in Fox's lineup who opened their mouths and spread it, including the likes of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, should have to pay out every penny they have to their name to cover the damages. Frankly, they should serve time in prison, along with Trump when he is convicted of seditious conspiracy.
A Network That Had Zero Credibility Now Has Less Than That
So what does this mean with regard to their news reporting?
It means that the credibility of everything they've ever reported or about which they have pontificated and commented is questionable. The information that has come out, just about this specific case, undermines everything else. It means that whatever they report cannot be trusted. That's nothing new for me. I always knew this. So did almost anyone else who can think for themselves.
Will it change the minds of any of their viewers? I have always wondered how it could be possible, in a country with the resources and education of the United States, that so many people can be so ignorant, lacking any critical thinking ability, discernment, moral or ethical values or even reading and listening skills. So I'm not sure. Many of them are the same people who believe Q-Anon conspiracy theories, which would indicate a pre-disposition toward false, fake news and information. I did see a post on social media from a conservative admitting that he no longer believed that Dominion helped "rig" the election, but still believed there was election fraud. When I asked where his support for that statement came from, he said, "Fox News." Even after the word came out of the trial that virtually everyone at Fox News was aware that Biden legitimately won the election, this guy wasn't convinced. There's no cure for ignorance that runs that deep.
$787 million is a lot of money. For what Fox News and Donald Trump perpetrated on the United States, and the distrust and fear that has created, there is no compensation adequate enough to repair the damage or restore what was lost as a result. This is a huge loss for Fox News and a huge windfall for Dominion and I hope the latter hugely benefits from it. I hope that it does result in the dissolution or destruction of Fox News. I also hope that it opens the door for lawsuits that bankrupt other media providers, like Newsmax and Breitbart, among others, and put those liars out of business as well.
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