April 19, 2023

Dominion Lawsuit

Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company’s lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election… Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, arguing that the top-rated news outlet damaged the company’s reputation by peddling phony conspiracy theories that claimed its equipment switched votes from former President Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.” AP News

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From the Right

The right supports the settlement, and argues that other media outlets have also misled their viewers.

From the Left

The left is disappointed that the case did not go to trial, which would have further exposed Fox’s wrongdoings.

The left is disappointed that the case did not go to trial, which would have further exposed Fox’s wrongdoings.

A libertarian's take

“Murdoch’s company paid $100 million to celebrities and crime victims in his tabloid phone-hacking scandal in Britain, according to the Washington Post. Another $50 million went one year to women at Fox News who alleged sexual harassment at the conservative network. In another case, $15 million went to a former host who complained about wage discrimination. A ‘seven-figure payment’ went to the parents of Seth Rich, who sued Fox for trafficking a false conspiracy theory about his death. And in 2010, Fox dropped a mammoth $500 million to settle a supermarket-coupon trade secret lawsuit…

“In the Murdoch universe, paying such settlements is just the cost of doing business Murdoch-style. The alternative to settling with Dominion for telling a series of lies about voting fraud would have been a painful and long courtroom drama… Getting out from under all of that hurt for $787.5 million is a kind of bargain for a company with a market cap of $17.3 billion. Fox has $4.1 billion in cash and warrants on hand… Rupert Murdoch, the indestructible Rupert Murdoch, will carry on as he always has.”
Jack Shafer, Politico

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