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2023-04-19 -Lurid Crime Tales-
What to Know About the $787.5 Million Fox News-Dominion Settlement
See also here.
[NYT] The 11th-hour deal saved Fox a potentially lengthy legal tangle, though it still faces other lawsuits over its coverage of false claims about the 2020 election.

Fox News’s agreement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday abruptly resolved a lawsuit over how the network amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, which devastated Dominion’s reputation and business.

The network had advanced former President Donald J. Trump’s claims, which its own hosts did not believe, that Dominion’s voting machines had been used to tilt the election against Mr. Trump. The trial was set to begin on Tuesday, and gasps were heard in the courtroom when the judge announced the settlement.

Here are the key facts about the deal that ended the case.

What were the terms of the settlement?
At $787.5 million, the amount that Fox News agreed to pay Dominion was one of the largest in a defamation case. Fox was not required to apologize on the air, though it did make a statement recognizing that the court had found "certain claims about Dominion" aired on its programming "to be false."

The settlement carried an implicit plea of "no contest" to several pretrial findings from Judge Eric M. Davis, who presided over the case. He had written in one ruling that it was "CRYSTAL clear" that Fox’s statements regarding Dominion and the election were untrue.
Posted by Besoeker 2023-04-19 09:08|| || Front Page|| [11143 views ]  Top

#1 What if....

Fox News upper management (you know who they are), clandestinely assembled "false claims" regarding Dominion and mashes dissemination button. Fox News announcers take the bait and dutifully broadcast "false claims."

On queue (thumbs-up from FOX), Dominion assembles legal team and files defamation lawsuit.

FOX News upper management legal team sez, "oh darn, did we mess up." How about $787.5 million for your pain. We promise not to say another word about voting irregularities in the upcoming 2024 race.

Posted by Besoeker 2023-04-19 09:30||   2023-04-19 09:30|| Front Page Top

#2 ^ Not very Occam's Razor, but quite believable, nonetheless.
Posted by M. Murcek 2023-04-19 09:34||   2023-04-19 09:34|| Front Page Top

#3 An alternative explanation is that Fox settled because they looked at the judge and jury, and decided they were *bleep*ed if they went to trial.
Posted by SteveS 2023-04-19 09:37||   2023-04-19 09:37|| Front Page Top

#4 The amount went up to $850 million at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Posted by swksvolFF 2023-04-19 10:57||   2023-04-19 10:57|| Front Page Top

#5 ^ Have they finished counting yet?
Posted by Bobby 2023-04-19 11:15||   2023-04-19 11:15|| Front Page Top

#6 #3 [Bee] Fox News Defamation Trial Over As Jury Votes In Favor Of Dominion 138,000 To 1
Posted by Frank G 2023-04-19 11:15||   2023-04-19 11:15|| Front Page Top

#7 Will they use Dominion machines to count the money?
Posted by European Conservative 2023-04-19 11:36||   2023-04-19 11:36|| Front Page Top

#8 Why couldn't Fox just tell the truth?

The truth being that these machines are subject to all manner of mischief such as hacking and deliberate manipulation of the code. You can certify the software all you want but that doesn't mean a thing on election day because nobody can prove the code wasn't altered in some way after the certification. Nobody can see what is actually happening inside that box and, without a paper trail, nobody will ever know for sure what did happen. These facts are indisputable. They don't mean Dominion or anybody else actually did anything wrong. All it means is that using computers to count votes is subject to all kinds of mischief that would be impossible with paper ballots. As long as computers are used to count votes, Dominion computers or anybody else's, there will be doubts about election integrity. Dominion would then have no grounds for a suit.

I didn't have much faith in Fox before this settlement. I watch it only rarely. But now my faith in Fox is at the same level as my faith in Dominion. I cannot defend Fox to my liberal friends and family. Maybe I can still watch Tucker once in a while but that's it. Maybe Tucker should look for another platform.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2023-04-19 11:37||   2023-04-19 11:37|| Front Page Top

#9 Will they use Dominion machines to count the money?

No. They'll just print more.

Snark O'The Day
Posted by Abu Uluque 2023-04-19 11:39||   2023-04-19 11:39|| Front Page Top

#10 #8 nails it. Just put a disclaimer on any article about any election using electronic tabulation. Don't mention any one company by name, just say that like water is wet and fire burns, they are all subject to corruption / subversion / falsification.

Make them prove otherwise in court if they want to sue.
Posted by M. Murcek 2023-04-19 11:48||   2023-04-19 11:48|| Front Page Top

#11 Abu Uluque, you make an excellent point. Voting systems without a paper trail should be a no go.

Fox got itsself into that mess because they knowingly stated things they had no way to prove. Murdoch should have settled this much earlier.

Giuliani is toast.
Posted by European Conservative 2023-04-19 11:56||   2023-04-19 11:56|| Front Page Top

#12 What this did was shoot the 1st Amendment in the chest. Every investigative journalist will be hauled into court over one fact or another not being true or not quite true. So now when people see 130 ballot count jump they will get sued for asking about it and all the truth will go away. Its no conspiracy here, when Trump says there was cheating in 2024, like he did in 2020 and 2022, he will get sued or the news orgs will not run with it. And yes, my friends on the left, in 2022, in the red districts there were voting issues. Ballots were tampered with, the system was tampered with and it is proven. Fact check the printer printing off PDF ballots that were the wrong size to be counted by the machines, both printer and counting were Dominion. My vote did not count, but no one in the leftist courts really cares.
Posted by 49 Pan 2023-04-19 12:19||   2023-04-19 12:19|| Front Page Top

#13 IOW, they don't call it software for nothing. It is soft and pliable. You can do anything you want with it and, in the hands of Democrats, that is exactly what we fear.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2023-04-19 14:59||   2023-04-19 14:59|| Front Page Top

#14 Free speech ends, even for the media, when you publish things that aren't true AND you know it or act with reckless disregard. That's "actual malice". The U.S. has much tougher laws to protect free speech of the media than any other country in the world, but limits must apply.

Fox settled because Dominion seemed to have been in the position to prove "actual malice". And Fox can only blame itself for that.
Posted by European Conservative 2023-04-19 16:10||   2023-04-19 16:10|| Front Page Top

#15 Fox settled because Dominion seemed to have been in the position to prove "actual malice"

I don't think so. Lots of news outlets had worse to say about Dominion. But they sued Fox. Now no one will ever question Dominion again publicly. I say the fix was in.
Posted by Angstrom 2023-04-19 16:14||   2023-04-19 16:14|| Front Page Top

#16 Mail-in Jury Summons harvesting.
Posted by swksvolFF 2023-04-19 17:20||   2023-04-19 17:20|| Front Page Top

#17 Actual discovery would have nailed Dominion to yje wall. I seem to recall the judge stopped full discovery.

Fox called the fraud election early while they simultaneously kept changing Trump vote count live on air. I watched it.

Personally I thick this was a complete show trial and the Murdoch kids will be reimbursed by their fellow leftist conspirators.

Paul Ryan is still on the board?
Posted by Woodrow 2023-04-19 17:43||   2023-04-19 17:43|| Front Page Top

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