Journalism vs Stenography
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It would be too easy to write about Fox News putting $737.5 million dollars into a (s)hush fund to avoid the spectacle of being roasted on the witness stand in front of the world. But what the hell. Why work hard when you don’t have to?
Since the actual reason for the lawsuit often gets lost in all the chatter, let me remind you that Fox's lies mischaracterized Dominion as a front for the left-wing government in Venezuela and asserted falsely that its voting machines were rigged to flip votes from Trump to Joe Biden to guarantee a Democratic victory.
I especially love the Venezuela bit….with it’s not-so-vague hint of socialism gone wild.
This was drinking-pagan-baby-blood-in-the-pizza-parlor-basement type stuff. About as subtle as a jackhammer. Any judge assigned to this case not related to Clarence Thomas was gonna have himself a ball.
Fox was legally fucked, and they knew it. So at the last possible moment they opened the checkbook and kicked the can down the road. Absolutely nothing has changed, and almost inexplicably the network wasn't forced to issue any type of public apology. Since Fox obviously isn't covering its own shame (it's current lead stories include trashing CNNs Don Lemon, and the return of Alec Baldwin), it's doubtful most of their viewers, who don't get their "news" anyplace else, are even aware that this was going on. Fox News is free to continue lying, and the only people really jazzed about any of this are the weasel-looking lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems, who are now, somewhat ironically, the same level of sloppy rich that can buy your way out of just about anything. After the settlement was reached, and the inevitable spin was spewed by both sides from the cliched courthouse steps, the manically grinning lawyers were seen almost floating to their cars.
Fox still faces a second, similar defamation lawsuit from another election technology firm, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7 billion. “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign,” Smartmatic lawyer J. Erik Connolly said in a statement on Tuesday. “Smartmatic will expose the rest.”
It's a nice thought. Good tough guy talk. Bound to get a few headlines. But it's also probable bullshit.
There's absolutely no reason to think that things will play out any differently. There is zero chance Fox execs will allow their own stars, who lie for a living, to be put under oath. The sight of Hannity or Tucker Carlson desperately trying to not perjure themselves would be comic gold. A bit like asking my dog to ignore a piece of bacon on the floor.
Right now I have visions of Connolly crafting that statement while jumping up and down on the bed eating ice cream, like Kevin in the Home Alone movie. He probably already has Yacht dealers on speed-dial. Lawyers might not be the smartest folks around, but they can sure as shit divide by three.
The entire thing is ghastly. A cluster-fuck of greed and privilege that should embarrass anybody with the capacity to be embarrassed. And therein lies to rub of all rubs.
And so much for all that. I'm not sure why we expected anything different. Accountability for these people has turned into Lucy holding the football.
Still, it would have been an interesting trial. And not just for the entertainment value. One of the revelations that came out of all this is that Fox News lies to its viewers because its viewers WANT to be lied to. The network rode the wave of Trump's stolen election gibberish because when they pushed back, even slightly, they lost viewers to even more batshit networks, like Newsmax and OAN. From a purely business standpoint, telling the truth is a non-starter for Fox News. The belief that if Hannity or Carlson stopped lying their viewers would somehow become enlightened is a nice theory, until you realize that Fox doesn't tell their viewers what to think. Fox viewers tell Fox News what to report. If they don’t get what they want to hear, they’ll go elsewhere.
It's pretty unprecedented. But here we are.
Which all explains why if this case went to trial Fox was doomed. To prove libel you need to prove actual malice.....and this proof was everywhere. Emails. Text messages. They knew exactly what they were doing. They stated it quite openly. They punished those who didn't toe the line. They don't collectively lick Trump's balls because they love him. In truth, documents show that the stars at Fox consider Trump a dimwitted, loathsome pile of yak dung. But Trump’s licked balls kept the money rolling in. Fox was even willing to abet a government coup to keep winning the ratings wars. In years past this sort of thing might have been shocking. Nowadays it's simply the price of doing business.
Fox's only legal strategy appeared to be this. That the President of the United States was claiming that the election was rigged. Surely the President of the United States was a reliable (keep a straight face here…) source. Therefore, they were simply reporting his allegations.
However, they weren't reporting them as allegations. They were reporting them as fact. This is not journalism. It's stenography.
In a bit...
--tf