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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Dominion and Fox Settle…

Dominion and Fox Settle…

by Tom Levenson|  April 18, 20234:20 pm| 179 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

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Video at 11.*

I’m disappointed on multiple levels–I wanted to see Rupert on the stand being served his own intestines via a cross examination for the ages.

Dominion and Fox Settle...

I wanted to see F**ker Carlson allowed to spin on a spit over coals for hours. I wanted a jury award so large only scientific notation could handle it.  All Imma gonna say at this point is that I look forward to the terms of the settlement and hope that includes a continuous chryon reading “We Are Lying Shits” scrolling without end on every Fox broadcast and feed from now through November 2024 (at the least.)

The thread is, of course, open.

(And yeah–the post is drafted the way it is to evoke this image. You can thank me later.)

*The quaint notion that a news report would be held until some set hour reveals that yes, in fact, I am an old…

Image: Anonymous, Représentation d’un animal hideux qui a mangé beaucoup de monde dans un village nommé Singlais, situé à trois lieues de Caen, 1632.

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Reader Interactions

179Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    April 18, 2023 at 4:21 pm

    Settled for less than a billion and a weak sauce apology.

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    April 18, 2023 at 4:22 pm

    @JPL: Pinning my hopes on the other case, I guess…

  3. 3.

    MazeDancer

    April 18, 2023 at 4:22 pm

    Very sad they settled. Probably, Smartmatic will settle, too.

  4. 4.

    jackmac

    April 18, 2023 at 4:24 pm

    Absolutely outrageous. Fox needs to held publicly accountable for the lengthy series of lies and now it’s unlikely to happen.  Yeah, it’ll cost Rupert Murdoch a lot of cash, but it’s only money.

  5. 5.

    dww44

    April 18, 2023 at 4:24 pm

    @JPL: Is this announced already?

  6. 6.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 18, 2023 at 4:25 pm

    Wanted it to be about the lying and it was just about the money. So surprised on this day ending in “y”.

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 4:25 pm

    I can’t be the only one envisioning Logan Roy negotiating these waters and finally yelling, “FUCK IT, settle! It’s small change.”

  8. 8.

    Steeplejack

    April 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    Cash settlement is $787.5 million. I haven’t seen any word on form of the apology. I dream about Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham having to read a groveling statement on air every night for a month, with million-dollar penalties if they mumble or omit any words.

  9. 9.

    guachi

    April 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    I suspect Dominion wants more than just money as their reputation was smeared. Money doesn’t bring back their reputation.

  10. 10.

    HumboldtBlue

    April 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    Before we take to the streets with pitchforks, it sure seems there is more to come from this settlement than just money. There are going to be more impacts, it appears from the hints Dominion lawyers dropped.

  11. 11.

    MazeDancer

    April 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    “Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson just said Fox is settling the case for $787.5 million”

    Huh? What happened to 1.6?

    Also, reports are 9 of the 12 jurors were people of color.

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    April 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    Sad that they settled.

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 4:27 pm

    @dww44: BBC:

    “Settlement of $787.5m

    Dominion lawyers have just announced Fox and Dominion have reached a settlement of $787,500,000m (£633.6m).
    “The truth matters, lies have consequences,” a lawyer for Dominion says.”

  14. 14.

    Maxim

    April 18, 2023 at 4:28 pm

    Dammit.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 4:28 pm

    @Steeplejack: If we ever get anything more than “Mistakes were made” I’ll buy a hat and eat it.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    April 18, 2023 at 4:29 pm

    @trollhattan: Lies have consequences and the statement Fox released said they acknowledged the judge’s statement that they lied.   Imagine as a child you said to a parent that you acknowledge that they said you lied.   fk

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    April 18, 2023 at 4:30 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Key word is “settling.” Also, someone on MSNBC just pointed out that a guaranteed check in hand now might be worth more than a projected future payout after years of appeals and foot-dragging. I.e., present value of money.

  18. 18.

    TheronWare

    April 18, 2023 at 4:32 pm

    I suppose Fox will keep Foxing- sigh 😔.

  19. 19.

    janesays

    April 18, 2023 at 4:32 pm

    @MazeDancer: The likely concern was that even if they had won the full $1.6B they were seeking at trial, who knows how long it would be before they ever saw a penny of it, because Fox would almost certainly have tied it up in appeals for years.

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack

    April 18, 2023 at 4:32 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Let me dream, if only for an hour!

  21. 21.

    Stacy

    April 18, 2023 at 4:33 pm

    Dominion CEO: “Fox has admitted telling lies.” I don’t think we’ve seen that from Fox publicly.

  22. 22.

    Citizen Alan

    April 18, 2023 at 4:33 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    To be fair, even the most favorable verdict is appealable, and aside from being reactionary ultra-conservatives, the current SCOTUS majority has expressed an interest in taking a hacksaw to libel laws, so who knows how it would have played out.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    April 18, 2023 at 4:34 pm

    Disappointed but hardly surprised.

  24. 24.

    PaulWartenberg

    April 18, 2023 at 4:35 pm

    Fox and their lawyers were NEVER going to risk putting Overlord Murdoch on the witness stand. It was a question of how desperate the settlement could get.

    All Imma gonna say at this point is that I look forward to the terms of the settlement and hope that includes a continuous chryon reading “We Are Lying Shits” scrolling without end on every Fox broadcast and feed from now through November 2024

    THIS! This is what really matters. Make it so that trump is denied a venue for his “stolen election” lies. Get him to yell and scream and insist on his own defamation lawsuit against Fox Not-News to try and force them to lie for him again.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    April 18, 2023 at 4:35 pm

    Disappointing to say the least.

    The one thing Fox wanted was to not have to admit publicly in black and white that they are a propaganda outlet and not a news organization.

    Pretty sure Fox got what they wanted.

    Dammit.

  26. 26.

    JWR

    April 18, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    Like the rest of you, I’m holding out hope for a strong statement of fact to be read aloud on or during each of these f*ckheads segments. But we shall see what we shall see.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    April 18, 2023 at 4:41 pm

    Disappointing.

  28. 28.

    HeleninEire

    April 18, 2023 at 4:42 pm

    SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!

  29. 29.

    The Moar You Know

    April 18, 2023 at 4:42 pm

    I don’t think we’ve seen that from Fox publicly.

    @Stacy: nor will we.  Fox CANNOT admit that in any substantive way, their whole grift ends if they do.  Which is what I was hoping this trial would do.  Oh well, they’re a business, not my personal white knight, and they probably have shareholders so for them, this was the right move.

    Just not the right move for America.

  30. 30.

    cain

    April 18, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    I didn’t think Dominion needed money so.. something is off. Plus how do they get their reputation back on track? Shouldn’t Fox News be making an admission that they lied ? I mean they clearly were going to lose.

  31. 31.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 4:44 pm

    @WaterGirl: There was a case a few years ago where Karen McDougal sued Carlson for slander. Fox’s defense was of course that “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statement he makes.” So Fox already crossed this bridge and their viewers don’t seem to care that Fox/Carlson are making fools of them by lying to them each night. Rage is a hell of an addiction.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    April 18, 2023 at 4:44 pm

    Princess Leia:

    Save us, Dominion Smartmatic, you’re our only hope.
    pic.twitter.com/C4nIf4nuGW

    — Schooley (@Rschooley) April 18, 2023

  33. 33.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 4:45 pm

    @cain: You know that do you?

  34. 34.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    April 18, 2023 at 4:45 pm

    So today, I checked into a place with a private plunge pool and a well thought out en suite acrylic art kit (because they were told by my wife that I would be into creating visual memories), saw a Cape Buffalo, a rhino with rhino baby, some impalas, some giraffes, a bunch of zebras, a young leopard and – oh, yeah – a young lion mom carrying a two month old cub that our guide said had come out the very first time today, and was definitely telling the truth because she was crying.

    Of things that don’t suck, this doesn’t suck the most.😁🥰❤️

  35. 35.

    Old School

    April 18, 2023 at 4:45 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    “Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson just said Fox is settling the case for $787.5 million”

    Seems like Fox would have paid much more to keep from testifying under oath.

  36. 36.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 4:49 pm

    The Fulton County District Attorney’s office has offered immunity deals to some of the alternate GOP electors who met at the Georgia Capitol and cast phony Electoral College votes for Donald Trump following the 2020 election.

    In a court motion filed Tuesday, the DA’s office also disclosed that it has been interviewing several of those Republicans in recent weeks, and that some of them accused a fellow elector of committing “acts that are violations of Georgia law,” the motion stated, without revealing specifics.
    The DA’s office filed the motion in an attempt to disqualify from the case attorney Kimberly Burroughs Debrow, who is representing 10 of the electors. In the explosive motion, prosecutors allege that Debrow failed to inform her clients about the potential immunity deals after they were offered last summer.

  37. 37.

    MattF

    April 18, 2023 at 4:50 pm

    Not surprised, since many actual lawyers have said, repeatedly, that proving actual malice to an actual jury is very very very hard. My hope is that the settlement requires statements from various Fox personalities that will trigger TFG. Is that too much to ask?

  38. 38.

    MazeDancer

    April 18, 2023 at 4:50 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    @janesays:

    Yes, understand.

    Huge money they actually get.

  39. 39.

    Scout211

    April 18, 2023 at 4:51 pm

    I am okay with a settlement. Added: I am likely in the minority here, though

    Elie Honig’s opinion on CNN:

    The $787.5 million settlement in the Fox-Dominion case is an unequivocal rebuke of the right-wing news network and its journalism, said Elie Honig, former assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York

    “Translated it means we got caught lying by the judge – and I think that’s exactly why we are seeing this absolutely jaw-dropping number,” Honig told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

    Although the amount is about half of what Dominion was asking for, it’s still an astonishing sum, he said.

    “I didn’t think there was any way they would get $1.6 billion – even when they proved their case, even if they proved it overwhelmingly to a jury. Let’s remember, by its own estimation, Dominion valued the entire company at somewhere between $30 and $80 million. This settlement is 10 times the value of Dominion as an entire company. That’s how strong a statement this is with this number,” Honig explained.

  40. 40.

    Fair Economist

    April 18, 2023 at 4:51 pm

    I don’t see how that’s enough. Dominion’s business has been totally wrecked by Fox’s libel.

  41. 41.

    HeleninEire

    April 18, 2023 at 4:54 pm

    Here’s what should be in the settlement: anytime someone on Fox even hints that the election was stolen…an additional $100 million; for each offence. And if it’s Donald Trump make that $200 million. For a month at the top of EVER Fox program the host must say that the court has ruled that they all lied.

  42. 42.

    Skepticat

    April 18, 2023 at 4:54 pm

    Not surprising but very disappointing. There never seem to be actual, impactful consequences for really bad behavior. I don’t imagine TFG will suffer any either.

  43. 43.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 18, 2023 at 4:56 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I read today they sold out to private equity and founders kept a 25% stake. I’ll see if I can track that down but if that’s the case, seems like risk of trial or appeals was real and Benjamins rule as usual.

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    April 18, 2023 at 4:57 pm

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Wait, I didn’t know the next season of White Lotus had already dropped!

  45. 45.

    CaseyL

    April 18, 2023 at 4:57 pm

    To repeat what I said in the thread below, considering that Dominion employees had to hire security details because they were getting death threats, I am absolutely gobsmacked that Dominion didn’t want to gut Fox and drag it around by its entrails.

    Oh, well.

    I do wonder what effect this will have on all the other lawsuits swirling around Fox.  Not just Semantic, but the producer who they lied to, lied about, and deleted her emails.

  46. 46.

    Renie

    April 18, 2023 at 4:57 pm

    Fox News Statement: “We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”

    Sounds a little bit like they are saying what they said about Dominion was false but that’s it.

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    April 18, 2023 at 4:58 pm

    @raven: Cool.

  48. 48.

    Dan B

    April 18, 2023 at 4:58 pm

    The judge appointed a Special Master.  That investigation will continue into I withholding information at discovery.

  49. 49.

    Lapassionara

    April 18, 2023 at 4:59 pm

    I just saw that Dominion also has lawsuits pending against Giuliani, etc. so there is more fun to be had, although I doubt Rudy has any personal wealth to lose. What scum.

  50. 50.

    p.a.

    April 18, 2023 at 5:01 pm

    IANAL, but I stayed at Holiday Inn  I’ve been on civil trial potential juries 4 times, and in 3 the settlement was made after a jury was picked but before any trial activity.  The court officers all said it happens a lot.  A game of “chicken” I guess.

    (2 I was a juror, 2 I was back in the lounge when the chosen group came in looking disappointed.)

  51. 51.

    Burnspbesq

    April 18, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Huh? What happened to 1.6?

    Dominion was never in a million years going to be able to prove damages in any amount remotely resembling 1.6B. Even if they could somehow manage it, the present value of 1.6B after all appeals are exhausted and Fox drags out a frivolous Chapter 11 case case is less than $787.5M at any reasonable discount rate.

  52. 52.

    scav

    April 18, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    @HeleninEire: But isn’t the (admittedly extravagant) lying about the election rather peripheral to the actual case here which is the harm Fox did to Dominion’s reputation?

  53. 53.

    JPL

    April 18, 2023 at 5:03 pm

    @Renie: All they did is acknowledge that the court did, not that they did.  They certainly did not accept that what they did was wrong.

  54. 54.

    Scout211

    April 18, 2023 at 5:05 pm

    @Lapassionara:

    It will be interesting to see how all those parties react to the Fox settlement.

    Dominion Voting Systems still has pending lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN, as well as against Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    April 18, 2023 at 5:05 pm

    @p.a.:

     A game of “chicken” I guess.

     
    I think that’s right.

  56. 56.

    Renie

    April 18, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    @JPL:

    Good point

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 18, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    As for the case not much to say except it was not  unexpected. Fox News works on white people, because it is says what many of them believe. It gives voice to their visceral fears. It doesn’t work that much on other demographics to the extent it does on older white people.

    Since this is a Levenson post where he posts art, I am going to share my first attempt at coloring a Kerby Rosanes illustration.

    Comments and critiques welcome.

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    April 18, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    @Scout211: It’s far less than a fourth of Fox News’s quarterly earnings. It’s good for Dominion, which is the party that had standing in the case, so in that sense, it’s not a disappointment. But it would be in the public interest to expose these lying propagandists for who they are, but I guess the law doesn’t give a fuck about that.

  59. 59.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    @Scout211: Yeah, as much as it would have been nice to put some of the Fox folks in the hot seat, I doubt it would impact much of their overall viewership. It is already beyond obvious that they are far more invested in propaganda rather than news. I’d much rather see them booted from the White House press room and cable not including Fox in their basic package. But neither of those will probably happen either.

  60. 60.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    @Skepticat: There never seem to be actual, impactful consequences for really bad behavior.

    That’s only if your net worth is over, say, $50 million. I could steal 100 bucks out a register right now and get in life-altering trouble.

  61. 61.

    Burnspbesq

    April 18, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    @raven:

    prosecutors allege that Debrow failed to inform her clients about the potential immunity deals after they were offered last summer.

    Holy shit. That’s grounds for disbarment.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    April 18, 2023 at 5:08 pm

    @Scout211: I don’t have a lot of respect for Elie Honig’s opinion in general, but I have no idea whether he is correct here or not.

    This isn’t even half of what Dominion asked for.  With the appointment of a special master for Fox, as happened earlier this week, I would think that would have totally upped the ante for Fox and they would have paid a much higher amount not to have a special master who would be able to interview anyone at Fox.  Under oath.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    April 18, 2023 at 5:09 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    but I guess the law doesn’t give a fuck about that

     
    Not in a private dispute. Can’t force Dominion to litigate.

  64. 64.

    jonas

    April 18, 2023 at 5:10 pm

    I think Dominion also has suits pending against Rudy Giuliani and that wackaloon My Pillow guy Mike Lindell as well, both of whom have been just as, if not more, explicit than the Fox crew in claiming Dominion conspired to fix the election. It will be interesting to see how this affects those cases. Will they double down, or will this scare the shit out of them and have them scrambling to settle as well? I can see Giuliani just caving and going “oh well, I was mistaken, I guess Dominion is ok or whatever” but Lindell is certifiable. He’ll never back down so I can see that going to trial and it ending about as well as things did for Alex Jones.

  65. 65.

    Anonymous At Work

    April 18, 2023 at 5:11 pm

    @MazeDancer: IAAL (but don’t quote me on the law) Smartmatic is asking $2.6 billion AND they are going after several hosts personally.  So, we might see Fox executives vs. hosts in a battle royale on damages.  And FOX is now exposed on a lot of areas for Smartmatic to exploit.  Finally, Dominion is likely to require an admission of guilt and apologies from Fox that will play at the Smartmatic trial, or factor into the settlement.

  66. 66.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    April 18, 2023 at 5:12 pm

    This was an easy case to win at trial, but then it would end up in appeals forever and then this corrupt supreme court would have nullified the judgement.

    So bird in the hand vs corrupt supreme court in the bush

  67. 67.

    janesays

    April 18, 2023 at 5:13 pm

    @Fair Economist: It’s nearly 40 times their annual revenue. Dominion is not a huge company.

  68. 68.

    Another Scott

    April 18, 2023 at 5:14 pm

    @p.a.: I heard similar things when I was in a jury pool for a civil case.  The judge specifically thanked us for being there and helping encourage the parties to come to a settlement.

    Like in many human endeavors, deadlines focus the mind.

    It’s good they didn’t bury the terms of the settlement in some NDA here.  That’s important.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    jonas

    April 18, 2023 at 5:15 pm

    @WaterGirl: I think Dominion was basically asking for the moon in the original suit and figuring if they won, it would probably be reduced considerably on appeal, which these things always are, and which would have taken who knows how many more years. This is a pretty huge settlement, imho. I just hope it included having to make a clear, unambiguous statement that they knowingly mislead their viewers about Dominion voting machines. What I’ve seen so far is kind of milquetoasty.

  70. 70.

    MattF

    April 18, 2023 at 5:15 pm

    However, Trump remains fixated on his claim that the election was rigged. I’d guess this means no more interviews with Fucker Carlson.

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    April 18, 2023 at 5:17 pm

    Once we saw some of the goods Dominion had on Fox from discovery, this case was never going to go to trial.  Fox had no choice but to settle and even if Dominion won twice the amount at trial, the appeals shenanigans would have gone on forever.
    They had to cough up a good chunk of change and this bodes well for Smartmatic.

    Who knows we may get a big corporate shakeup out of this as well.

  72. 72.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 5:18 pm

    @Another Scott: Yeah, like many others, this is what happened for a jury I sat on. We were all ready to go and then got the announcement that a settlement had been reached, so no trial.

  73. 73.

    cope

    April 18, 2023 at 5:22 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Although the original source is disputed, “…the law is (such) an ass.”

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    April 18, 2023 at 5:25 pm

    @p.a.:

    I was recently on a civil jury that actually reached a verdict.  One of the things I never appreciated before is that the jury is really on its own for the damages calculation.  We had some help with the economic damages, though not enough, but for non-economic damages we were more or less told to wing it.  Each side presented their idea of how much the damages ought to be, but their estimates differed by a factor of about 100x.  The court told us we were on our own and just had to figure this stuff based on our common sense.

    Nobody knows what would have come out of the jury if they had ruled in Dominion’s favor.  They might have decided to give Dominion 100% of Fox’s profits since the election, or they might have decided Dominion shouldn’t get more than the company itself was worth.  It would be a complete crapshoot.  I can completely understand why both sides would want to settle.

  75. 75.

    Kelly

    April 18, 2023 at 5:25 pm

    @p.a.: I was selected as a juror for one civil trial. Homeowner vs remodeling contractor. Selected in the morning. Went out for lunch. On our return the Judge thanked us for our time and told us the parties had settled.  Judge spoke for a few minutes about settling was a good thing and commonplace.

  76. 76.

    Burnspbesq

    April 18, 2023 at 5:26 pm

    @Another Scott:

    It’s good they didn’t bury the terms of the settlement in some NDA here

    That would have been difficult. Fox is a public company, with disclosure obligations under Federal securities law. It’s going to have to file an 8-K, and there are limits on how cute you can be without pissing off the SEC.

  77. 77.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 5:28 pm

    Money is fake and the truth has value beyond measure. The way this world operates, you’d think the reverse was true.

  78. 78.

    Suzanne

    April 18, 2023 at 5:29 pm

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    corrupt supreme court in the bush 

    Phrasing.
    Unfortunately not as remote a possibility as I would like.

  79. 79.

    Hoodie

    April 18, 2023 at 5:30 pm

    @Burnspbesq: Yeah, I’m kind of surprised they got this much, but I guess it shows how desperate Fox was to avoid having Rupert and others testify.   For those who are disappointed, this is probably as good as could be expected.  Dominion has shareholders and their management could not walk away from this much sure cash.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 5:32 pm

    Turns out Dominion has more irons in the fire than you’d find at a rustlers convention.

    Lawyers for Dominion said in the press conference that more legal action is coming against people that spread lies about the company.
    “There are more people that have some accountability coming,” said one lawyer, with another telling reporters: “Thank you and we’ll see you at the next one”.
    Dominion Voting Systems still has lawsuits against Newsmax and the One America News Network.
    They have also sued Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell – all allies of Donald Trump who shared false claims about Dominion following Joe Biden’s presidential win.
    They all deny wrongdoing and plan to fight the lawsuits.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    April 18, 2023 at 5:34 pm

    @Baud: Right, and even as a non-lawyer, I understand that the public wasn’t a party to this suit. My point is there’s a public interest here that apparently cannot be served in any other way, and that sucks.

  82. 82.

    Gvg

    April 18, 2023 at 5:35 pm

    All i hope is that the settlement has contingencies built in so that fox has to actually pay quickly and make satisfactory we were lying statements right away, or else Dominion gets to keep everything AND the case is back on. They can’t let the pressure off fox till they have their money plus they need to be able to still provexto the public that future lies are lies. In other words, no nondisclosure agreement.

    Because fox is not going to shut up, Dominion shouldn’t promise to either.

  83. 83.

    PJ

    April 18, 2023 at 5:38 pm

    @Citizen Alan: I bet Dominion’s lawyers did not want to give the S. Ct. a chance to gut libel law and/or reduce the ultimate amount of damages.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 5:38 pm

    Fox didn’t quite switch to “Benny Hill” reruns but they did wave this off in that Fox News America’s Most Trusted fashion.

    Here in the BBC New York bureau, we have a wall of four monitors tuned into major news networks.
    Just after news of a settlement broke, BBC, CNBC, and CNN all carried the Dominion lawyers’ press conference live.
    The fourth TV in our office, dedicated to Fox News, did not.
    Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto was in the anchor’s seat, and it took several moments for him to acknowledge the settlement. The network then brought its media correspondent, Howard Kurtz, on as a guest to speak with Cavuto for about three minutes. Kurtz hosts a Fox show called Media Buzz, and revealed in February that the network had barred him from talking about the trial; he said at the time he “strongly disagrees” with that decision.
    Fox News did not show images of the scene outside the Delaware courthouse; instead, footage of its New York headquarters dominated a split screen.
    As Dominion lawyers declared victory in their case on the other three televisions, Fox News cut to a commercial. They returned a few minutes later, with a segment on immigration.
    They have also not published a story about the settlement on the front page of their website, yet.

    “Settlement schmettlement, Hunter Biden’s laptop just shot a cop!”

  85. 85.

    gwangung

    April 18, 2023 at 5:40 pm

    @trollhattan: Wonder if Dominion will play harder ball with the small fry? Particularly if they have Fox money in their pocket?

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    April 18, 2023 at 5:45 pm

    “Dominion is the warmest, kindest, most wonderful company we ever knew.”
    //

  87. 87.

    UncleEbeneezer

    April 18, 2023 at 5:46 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yup.  I was on a civil jury last Summer and same thing.    Defendant caused an auto accident that put Plaintiff in hospital.  Defendant admitted liability so all we had to decide was damages.  But Plaintiff had been in a couple other accidents in the past too so determining which accidents caused which injuries was tricky. And there were some holes in his story (including saying he was totally healed in a deposition for another accident before our trial).  Anyways, our discussions on what to give him for the mental/emotional damages (he definitely deserved something) was just complete guesswork and basically making up numbers until we could find one we all agreed on.  And we all just wanted to go home after 8 days, so we probably cut our discussions shorter than they should’ve been.

  88. 88.

    RSA

    April 18, 2023 at 5:47 pm

    Like everyone else, I’m disappointed. I don’t like it, but corporations are amoral entities. I doubt that any angle other than profit has been considered throughout this case.

  89. 89.

    narya

    April 18, 2023 at 5:48 pm

    I’m gonna express a minority opinion: I think this is a good thing. The biggest risk Dominion faced was losing the trial. The second-biggest risk they faced was winning, but (a) not getting much in damages and/or (b)  needing to spend a whole lot of time on appeals, tracking down the money, etc. Dominion losing would have been MUCH worse than either of the other two–this way, it’s all getting reported essentially as “Dominion prevailed,” and that won’t help the defendants in the other trials. A lot of the discovery was already out there, and is still out there.

  90. 90.

    UncleEbeneezer

    April 18, 2023 at 5:50 pm

    I’m gonna go ahead and be happy for this, solely based on the people who are mad about this: Conservatives and Progressives/Dems who are quick to label every result a catastrophic failure, like Oliver Willis just to name one.  I’m not sure what exactly people think Fox admitting they lied would accomplish.  Maybe five less viewers?

  91. 91.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 5:50 pm

    @RSA: Like everyone else, I’m disappointed. I don’t like it, but corporations are amoral entities.

    It would be nice if our economic structure were more responsive to moral and societal concerns.

    Didn’t Manchin just torpedo a bill that would have simply allowed, not required, allowed financial managers to weigh a particular major societal concern when making trading decisions?

  92. 92.

    A Good Woman

    April 18, 2023 at 5:55 pm

    Reported at CNN

    “Fox anchors not required to acknowledge lies told about Dominion as part of settlement, Dominion rep says

    From CNN’s Oliver Darcy

    Fox News anchors will not have to acknowledge on-air that it told election lies about Dominion Voting Systems as part of the terms of its settlement, a representative for the election technology company told CNN.
    Fox News did acknowledge in its statement that falsehoods were broadcast.
    But top anchors at the right-wing talk channel will not be required as part of the settlement to acknowledge on air the lies broadcast in the wake of the 2020 election.”

    This part is really disappointing.

  93. 93.

    gene108

    April 18, 2023 at 5:56 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s far less than a fourth of Fox News’s quarterly earnings.

    Revenue ≠ profit.

    Every company that goes bankrupt has earnings, just not enough to cover expenses.

    I skimmed Fox’s latest 10k filing. Net income for fiscal years 2020 was $890 million, 2021 was $2,249 million, and 2022 was $1,297.

    $787.5 million is a lot of money based on Fox’s profits.

    But it would be in the public interest to expose these lying propagandists for who they are, but I guess the law doesn’t give a fuck about that.

    Unfortunately the rest of the media rushes to defend Fox News anytime people in government, who could show they’re a propaganda outfit, tries to shunt or expose Fox News.

  94. 94.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 5:57 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: I’m not sure what exactly people think Fox admitting they lied would accomplish. Maybe five less viewers?

    Are you suggesting that Fox News viewers aren’t responsive to hard facts?

  95. 95.

    UncleEbeneezer

    April 18, 2023 at 5:58 pm

    Six years?!!  Thanks Garland, pft…

    Grand jury indicts torch-wielding marchers from 2017 incident in Charlottesville

  96. 96.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:02 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: Wait, does this mean I still have to be worried about crimes I committed 6 years ago?

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    April 18, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    That sounds a lot like the case I was in.  It was also a car accident (car vs pedestrian) where the driver* admitted liability and the plaintiff had a complicated injury history prior to the accident.  The plaintiff in my case also had some credibility issues about how well he had recovered from his previous accident and how badly disabled he was by the accident involved in the case.  So we first had to figure out how badly hurt he really was and then how much that damage was worth to him.

    *Well, the driver’s estate, since he died of unrelated causes shortly after the accident.

  98. 98.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    @delphinium: Yep, me too.

  99. 99.

    JaySinWA

    April 18, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    @Lapassionara: But I bet they can hope to make Rudy squeal like a pig. He could do a lot of damage to Trump and Fox if he is squeezed hard enough.

  100. 100.

    Burnspbesq

    April 18, 2023 at 6:04 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Are you suggesting that Fox News viewers aren’t responsive to hard facts?

    If he/she isn’t, I’ll be happy to.

  101. 101.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 6:05 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: God I hate agreeing with you.

  102. 102.

    FelonyGovt

    April 18, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    As a retired civil lawyer, I’m not at all surprised. Most civil cases settle because otherwise (a) liability, (b) damages, and (c) being able to recover those damages promptly without waiting through years of appeals are all too uncertain.  The settlement is for a healthy amount, given the size of Dominion as a company.

    I would have loved to have Fox dragged through weeks of embarrassing and damaging testimony, but that was probably too much to ask.

  103. 103.

    Burnspbesq

    April 18, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Try again. Those are state charges.

    Curious to hear what part(s) of Title 18 you think was/were implicated, and how you would go about proving it.

  104. 104.

    UncleEbeneezer

    April 18, 2023 at 6:08 pm

    @Roger Moore: Wow!  Yes, VERY similar.  Ours was made worse by the fact that we weren’t even allowed to see the medical bills, when making our determination.  We could only go on witness testimony of what the various procedures usually cost.  We also were instructed by the judge that we couldn’t consider whether or not insurance covered any of it (pursuant to CA law, I believe).

  105. 105.

    karen marie

    April 18, 2023 at 6:09 pm

    @trollhattan:   Apparently Fox made $5.6 Billion last quarter alone.

    I’m baffled why Dominion settled.  It certainly isn’t the money.  And Fox Corp. is already downplaying their slander – “We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

    I take the implication to be that some claims were true.

    How can such a statement comport with any settlement?

    @JPL:  You missed the asterisk:  “certain claims,” not all.

  106. 106.

    UncleEbeneezer

    April 18, 2023 at 6:10 pm

    @Burnspbesq: I was being sarcastic and mocking the legal ignorance that so often is evident in the most noxious Garland-haters.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    April 18, 2023 at 6:10 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    “We distort, you abide.”
    //

  108. 108.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 6:10 pm

    @karen marie:

    FelonyGovt
    APRIL 18, 2023 AT 6:07 PM

    As a retired civil lawyer, I’m not at all surprised. Most civil cases settle because otherwise (a) liability, (b) damages, and (c) being able to recover those damages promptly without waiting through years of appeals are all too uncertain.  The settlement is for a healthy amount, given the size of Dominion as a company.

    I would have loved to have Fox dragged through weeks of embarrassing and damaging testimony, but that was probably too much to ask.

  109. 109.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:11 pm

    @NotMax: “We distort, you abide.”

    Brilliance.

  110. 110.

    karen marie

    April 18, 2023 at 6:13 pm

    @Scout211:   It’s a “jaw-dropping number” to any of us but to Fox, it’s nothing.  It’s not even a quarter of the revenue from the last quarter.

    That’s what gets me.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    April 18, 2023 at 6:13 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    The economic damages in our case was only for future medical expenses.  As in your case, it was difficult because we didn’t have a lot of evidence to go on.  The plaintiff brought in a medical billing expert to estimate what the cost should be, and the defense tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to bring up some charges mentioned on the doctor’s web site.  It would have been a lot better if the defense had brought in their own billing expert to give their own estimate.  We all thought the estimated cost was inflated, but it was really the only evidence we had to go on.

  112. 112.

    pajaro

    April 18, 2023 at 6:16 pm

    I’m with the minority.  It’s an absolutely huge settlement, many multiples of times greater than Dominion’s  annual income or the value of the company.  It’s the first time in its history that FOX has had to pay for the lies it has spewed.  In the meantime, the rest of us have a court ruling that the claims were false.  The information that was revealed in discovery that they knew it was false is all out there.  If it had gone to trial, Fox wouldn’t have covered it, so it’s not as if their viewers were reachable in any event.  If Fox had lost at trial, they would proclaim themselves First Amendment martyrs and go on to years of appeals, which a decent chance they might win along the way.  There are going to be more Dominion trials of some of the people who were spouting lies, and Smartmatic is up next against FOX with a 2 billion dollar suit.

    This is a very, very good start.

  113. 113.

    TriassicSands

    April 18, 2023 at 6:16 pm

    Odds against FOX changing its ways: At least 787,500,000 to 1.

    They can afford to do this over and over again. To Fox viewers, if they ever even hear about this settlement, it will just be one more case of the deep state victimizing the Right.

    The Left is right; the Right is wrong.

  114. 114.

    Lapassionara

    April 18, 2023 at 6:17 pm

    @JaySinWA: That’s a nice thought. I am watching MSNBC, and Nick Ackerman is totally a Pollyanna about this settlement. His point is that Fox has insurance for claims like these, and its insurers are going to lean on the network to clean up its act. As if!

  115. 115.

    Hoodie

    April 18, 2023 at 6:17 pm

    @karen marie: Fox’s size is irrelevant as to compensating Dominion for its losses, which is measured by their sales (past and projected ongoing).   Fox’s profits from lying might be relevant for punitives, but punitives are a crapshoot and very often get knocked down on appeal. 

  116. 116.

    Other MJS

    April 18, 2023 at 6:21 pm

    @pajaro: According to this, Dominion’s 2022 revenue (not income) was $17.5 million.

  117. 117.

    Other MJS

    April 18, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    @pajaro: According to this, Dominion’s 2022 revenue (not income) was $17.5 million.

  118. 118.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 18, 2023 at 6:24 pm

    @Roger Moore: @UncleEbeneezer:

    Uncanny…similar trial for me too!

    I was on a jury…auto accident where plaintiff claimed she was unable to work due to back injuries, pain and trauma. The defendent didn’t dispute he caused the accident.

    Plaintiff’s counsel emphasized again and again how the plaintiff had a sad life filled with abuse and neglect with the result that the jury couldn’t determine whether it was her life or the accident that caused her trauma or how much of each. Also, the plaintiff came to court every day in very high heels which the jury noted seemed to belie her back pain claims.

    In the end, I (as foreman) had to talk my fellow jurors into awarding her a nominal sum of money mostly to cover her shitty lawyer fees. A better lawyer would have made a better case on the merits and would have counseled her on what to wear.

    The judge called the jury into chambers, thanked us and told us he thought we got it right.

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    April 18, 2023 at 6:24 pm

    @gwangung: Think it’s a good question. They must feel emboldened by this success and with that that particular group of knuckleheads, I’m guessing they have said things far beyond what Fox has been caught/admitted to saying.

    May they all sleep poorly, from today forward. Nighty night, Pillow Guy.

  120. 120.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 6:26 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: The Fortune Cookie!

  121. 121.

    gwangung

    April 18, 2023 at 6:30 pm

    @trollhattan: Yeah, there was never a chance they could take Fox down or even do them critical damage (though this is gonna hurt).

    But the others? Well, I’m wondering if they COULD survive…..

  122. 122.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 18, 2023 at 6:30 pm

    @raven: Yes! And a football movie (ok, not really).

  123. 123.

    Scout211

    April 18, 2023 at 6:31 pm

    IANAL, but I noticed that (at least so far), there has been no boilerplate statement by Fox News that you hear so often in cases like this. “This settlement, blah, blah, blah, is in no way an admission of guilt, blah, blah, blah.”  They agreed that there were lies told (“oops, the judge caught us”) and did not make that boilerplate denial of guilt. Again, not the win we all wanted but a win, IMO.

  124. 124.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 6:33 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: Boom Boom Jackson and Archie Moore!

  125. 125.

    Layer8Problem

    April 18, 2023 at 6:35 pm

    @TriassicSands:
    This is exactly my take in the minor argument I just had with my partner.

    Partner: “Sure they got a pile of money, but Fox doesn’t seem to have to admit they lied on the air! Their viewers will never know they were lied to!”

    Layer8: “Even if the settlement compelled every Fox anchor to admit lying hourly wearing sackcloth and ashes, their viewers will just say ‘of course they had to do that, the Deep State MADE them do that!'”

    Then we got into an argument about whether Deep State should only refer to the Government or could more comprehensively refer to any and all manifestations of the World Wide Woke Conspiracy, up to and including the guy wearing a mask on the line for the ATM.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    April 18, 2023 at 6:37 pm

    @Layer8Problem:

    Then we got into an argument about whether Deep State should only refer to the Government or could more comprehensively refer to any and all manifestations of the World Wide Woke Conspiracy, up to and including

     
    Balloon Juice!

  127. 127.

    narya

    April 18, 2023 at 6:38 pm

    Here’s another angle: While we all wanted Faux’s misdeeds to be aired repeatedly, WE are already convinced they are scum–and their viewers are not going to be swayed by such an airing. For one thing, they’d never see it, because they only watch Faux or its ilk–but they can’t help but get some wind of the settlement. This is actual punishment for their misdeeds: not as much as we would like (and they deserve), but tangible nevertheless. Nothing about this trial was going to convince any of their viewers to change the channel, and damages were never going to be enough to hurt the company’s bottom line.

  128. 128.

    Geminid

    April 18, 2023 at 6:38 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: That’s kind of what Manchin tried to do. The Labor Department issued a rule that rescinded a Trump administration rule prohibiting retirement managers from incorporating so called “ESG” factors in their investment decisions. Under the new rule, managers are allowed (but not required) to incorporate climate or social factors into investment decisions.

    The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to nullify recently issued rules with majority votes. So in early March, Joe Manchin and John Tester joined the Republican minority on a resolution that would knock out the new rule. The House passed the resolution with Democrat Jared Golden joining the majority.

    Joe Biden vetoed the bill a couple weeks later. His message pointed out that the prohibition would require retirement fund managers to ignore well-evidenced risk factors, “disregarding the principles of free markets and jeopardizing the life savings of working families and retirees.”

  129. 129.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:40 pm

    @delphinium: Rage is a hell of an addiction.

    Wondering if rage addiction is an actionable claim. Class action suit against Faux by everyone who lost family members to this harmful addiction.

    That channel should carry a Surgeon General’s warning.

  130. 130.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    @Geminid: I’m glad the levers of power and structural advantage in this case, for once, was on the side of the angels. Granted, when these things are done by regulation, an administration with a different regulatory approach can change it back.

  131. 131.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 18, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    @FelonyGovt:

    I would have loved to have Fox dragged through weeks of embarrassing and damaging testimony, but that was probably too much to ask.

    Yeah, the drip drip drip every day would’ve gotten me up some mornings. But I do agree that they won’t lose viewers. Fox viewers either don’t know or don’t care they’re being lied to. I don’t know how you could watch that lineup any other way.

  132. 132.

    Layer8Problem

    April 18, 2023 at 6:44 pm

    @Baud:  Speaking of which, I haven’t received my ColeBucks check for the week.  I’ve got my eye on a fleet of chinchilla-trimmed Jet Skis and Deep Stating doesn’t come free, you know what I mean?

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    April 18, 2023 at 6:44 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: It was Joe Biden’s first veto.

  134. 134.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:46 pm

    @Geminid: A worthy veto.

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    April 18, 2023 at 6:48 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Our case was interesting in part because the previous injuries (sustained at work) meant the plaintiff had before and after MRI.  Probably the most important thing was that even the defense expert agreed the damage to the plaintiff’s back was worse after the accident than before.  The different experts all used terminology differently, but it was clear from the testimony and from the exhibits that the plaintiff had been injured in the accident.

    Probably the most effective line in the defense’s case was their argument that the plaintiff wasn’t going to get surgery.  He had delayed and delayed treatment, and the defense argued he was never going to get surgery because he was afraid of anyone working close to his spine. It was a surprisingly persuasive argument that made a lot of jurors question if we should award the plaintiff for the surgery.

    I argued this shouldn’t matter.  The jury instructions said we were supposed to give damages for whatever treatment was medically necessary, not for whatever treatment the patient was likely to receive.  The medical experts, even the defense expert, agreed he was going to need surgery.  That meant he was entitled to enough money to pay for surgery even if he was afraid to get it.  That argument succeeded in winning the day, so it was only a question of how much the surgery was likely to cost.

  136. 136.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 6:49 pm

    @narya: Heck, in a lawsuit a couple years back, Fox’s lawyers basically said no level-headed person would believe what Tucker Carlson says (ie, he’s a liar).  So yeah, even if this case had gone to trial, doubtful any viewers would have been swayed by testimony. I suppose deep down, many of them know they are being lied to but they just don’t care enough to switch the channel.

  137. 137.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 6:54 pm

    @delphinium: I suppose deep down, many of them know they are being lied to but they just don’t care enough to switch the channel.

    From personal experience with some Fox viewers I’m very close with: you can debunk 100s of lies and not only will they not amend their views or viewing habits, they won’t amend their arguments to reflect the newly acquired facts, they’ll cling to the lie.

    A recent fun one I had to deal with was a claim Kamala Harris was telling people not to take the COVID vaccine. Debunked by the viewers’ own “proof*” and they saw it. Heard the claim again a week later from the lead Fox viewing participant in the discussion.

    *Original video, primary sourcing for the win. And OMG, the time I tried to explain what a primary source was…

  138. 138.

    RaflW

    April 18, 2023 at 6:57 pm

    @trollhattan: “Dominion Voting Systems still has lawsuits against Newsmax and the One America News Network.

    They have also sued Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell – all allies of Donald Trump who shared false claims about Dominion following Joe Biden’s presidential win.

    They all deny wrongdoing and plan to fight the lawsuits.”

    Meanwhile, Dominion will shortly have a most prodigious retainer that can offer the firm that is going to spit-roast Powell, Lindell and Giuliani. A sum that will finance a fleet of lawyers, with plenty left over to revamp the voting machine business, pay handsome bonuses to employees and cover shareholder value nicely.

  139. 139.

    JoyceH

    April 18, 2023 at 6:57 pm

    @delphinium: ​
     

    I’d much rather see them booted from the White House press room and cable not including Fox in their basic package. But neither of those will probably happen either.

    What I want to see is Fox banned from military bases, where it is insanely prevalent. I guess banning from base housing would be a bridge too far, but at least get it off the televisions in the office spaces! Consider that in two cases just in the past few days, we’ve seen weird misconduct from military members – the gaming chat leaks and then the reveal that a pro-Kremlin information source was actually being generated by a woman who just recently left the US Navy. Keep this mind poison out of the military, for pete’s sake!

  140. 140.

    Jackie

    April 18, 2023 at 6:58 pm

    At the very least Faux should be made to remove *News* from their title!

    (stomps foot)

  141. 141.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 7:00 pm

    @JoyceH: the gaming chat leaks

    The young man encountered some classified information during the course of his work and decided to bring it home to feel like a big guy.

    What’s wrong with that? It’s exactly what Trump did.

  142. 142.

    Baud

    April 18, 2023 at 7:00 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    A recent fun one I had to deal with was a claim Kamala Harris was telling people not to take the COVID vaccine

     
    I get they’re crazy, but that particular lie doesn’t seem to fit within the wingnut universe.

  143. 143.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 7:01 pm

    @Baud: What she actually said was that she wouldn’t take the vaccine on Trump’s say-so alone, she’d follow the recommendations of the medical community.

    When leaving off the part about following the advise of the medical community, it fits in a both-sidesy sense; that the partisan split over vaccination would exist and be reversed if Trump were reelected.

  144. 144.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 7:04 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: ​
    A republican friend of mine (not a Trumper) told me that she and her boyfriend watch Fox & CNN (BOTH SIDES!). I told her about that lawsuit basically stating Fox’s viewpoint that Tucker Carlson is a known liar. So yeah, keep watching Fox if you want but you aren’t getting any kind of actual “news”.

  145. 145.

    Baud

    April 18, 2023 at 7:04 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Oh, I remember that.  I also get that we don’t trust Republicans so they feel like they can do the same.

  146. 146.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 7:06 pm

    @delphinium: Fox & CNN (BOTH SIDES!).

    Both sides? The right and the far right? The distortion and the equivocation? Money and money?

  147. 147.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 7:06 pm

    @JoyceH: ​
    Thanks-I keep forgetting about Fox’s prevalence on military bases and agree, they should be banned in the office spaces there.

  148. 148.

    jayne

    April 18, 2023 at 7:11 pm

    One hopes that a good chunk of that settlement finds itself in Dominion employees’ pockets. Humiliating your enemies is cathartic, but it don’t pay the rent.

  149. 149.

    delphinium

    April 18, 2023 at 7:11 pm

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: That was my friend’s interpretation, that CNN was more left leaning and Fox was more right leaning; so she was covering the bases so to speak.

  150. 150.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    April 18, 2023 at 7:13 pm

    @delphinium: that CNN was more left leaning

    ::Chuckles darkly::

  151. 151.

    RaflW

    April 18, 2023 at 7:15 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I know it’s an uphill slog, but the Dominion suit getting settled — hopefully without an NDA and maybe with some public admission by Fox — could help with the nascent effort to get Fox’s carry fees reduced.

    Argue that they damaged goods and aren’t worth the inflated costs to put them on the cable grid.

    And the public has to keep pushing DoD and the different branches directly to get lying Fox TF Off base TVs in common areas.

  152. 152.

    RaflW

    April 18, 2023 at 7:21 pm

    @RSA: Looking at Anheuser-Busch and their $1.6M to Republicans before we saw even the first $40K to Democrats, I disagree that corporations are outside a moral framework.

  153. 153.

    Gvg

    April 18, 2023 at 7:26 pm

    I hope that the results of this suit finding hard evidence that Fox people knew they were telling lies, with recordings AND that they tried to suppress evidence in discovery gets held against them in every lawsuit from here on out. They lied to the judge. Other attorneys should be bringing these facts up in every lawsuit after this and asking for more discovery etc. IANAL but it seems to me that could bleed them more.

  154. 154.

    janesays

    April 18, 2023 at 7:28 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    Dominion has annual revenue of about $20 million. This is nearly 40 times the amount they make in any given year.

  155. 155.

    Jeffro

    April 18, 2023 at 7:31 pm

    Here’s a thought: post news of the settlement far and wide and ESPECIALLY where your RWNJ friends and relatives will see it, and just ask, “hmm…why’d they settle if trump really had a case (or even if there was any doubt)?”

    This message has been brought to you by the Department of Cognitive Dissonance, GQP Division.

  156. 156.

    James E Powell

    April 18, 2023 at 7:40 pm

    Even if the case had gone to trial and ended in a verdict against FOX, they would still continue to be a cornucopia of right-wing lies & propaganda. The audience for that is still there, still loyal, and FOX owns them.

  157. 157.

    laura

    April 18, 2023 at 7:53 pm

    The parties in the dispute reached a settlement they each believe is in their respective best interests. Nobody is happy with the outcome. Negotiated Settlement 101. It tracks with my two decades of experience.

  158. 158.

    Mike in NC

    April 18, 2023 at 7:54 pm

    Was hoping that everybody working at FOX would be standing in the unemployment line next month. Damn.

  159. 159.

    RSA

    April 18, 2023 at 8:19 pm

    @RaflW:  Looking at Anheuser-Busch and their $1.6M to Republicans before we saw even the first $40K to Democrats, I disagree that corporations are outside a moral framework.

    Hmm. It seems obvious that I haven’t thought things all the way through. Thanks for your observation.

  160. 160.

    Uncle Cosmo

    April 18, 2023 at 8:21 pm

    @TriassicSands: The Left is right; the Right is wrong.

    And the Far Right is far wrong.

    Been saying all that for years. Belongs on a bumpersticker IMHO.

  161. 161.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    April 18, 2023 at 8:22 pm

    MeidasTouch tends to make me feel better, they’re good at unraveling the legal consequence of things and why they might be more serious than it would appear to a naive observer (myself).

    So I see this new video with a promising title (“Fox gets CRUSHED in Devastating MAJOR Dominion UPDATE”) and thumbnail. I’m going to check it out.

  162. 162.

    oldgold

    April 18, 2023 at 8:38 pm

    This was a tremendous settlement for Dominion.

    Before Dominion was libeled by Fox it had a value of roughly $80,000,000.  As such, they are receiving a damage settlement that totals 10 times the company’s value!

    There is absolutely no way you can turn an offer like that down.

  163. 163.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    April 18, 2023 at 8:38 pm

    @janesays: ​
      that’s not even pure profit, that’s just revenue. Moreover, the present value of receiving an annual $20,000,000 payment in perpetuity, which last time I looked is a long time, is $400 million.

    The amount they won is yuge. Far more than what they would have received as a successful going concern.

  164. 164.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    April 18, 2023 at 8:39 pm

    @oldgold: ​
      This.

  165. 165.

    Subsole

    April 18, 2023 at 8:42 pm

    @CaseyL:

    Review your words:

    Dominion employees.

    Not owners.

    Not shareholders.

  166. 166.

    cmorenc

    April 18, 2023 at 8:44 pm

    At Faux News website this evening, there is absolutely NO mention whatever of the Dominion settlement or anything related to the suit. Instead, the lead story is about how much income the Bidens really make. Second story is about what LBGTs are demanding from the University of Pittsburgh, complete with large image of LBGT flag…placed so said flag image is easily visible below the chyron for the Biden income story.

  167. 167.

    Chief Oshkosh

    April 18, 2023 at 8:51 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Fox viewers either don’t know or don’t care they’re being lied to. I don’t know how you could watch that lineup any other way.

    My experience with these mooks is that Fox and the other RW media are sort of like cheerleaders leading the diehard fans. Regardless of whether the team is play-off worthy or in-the-basement losers, the cheerleaders lead the fans in cheering. In losing years, or decades, the fans know that the team sucks, they know that the cheers are empty words, but it’s all very comforting, non-challenging, and bias-confirming.

    Go Team, Go!

  168. 168.

    raven

    April 18, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    Spanky

     

    Ho hummmm (big yawn)

    Up in the morning, just about 4,
    I put on my shoes and I’m out the door.
    Life is such a terrible bore….I’m a garbageman.

    Ridin on the garbage truck with my friend, Lou,
    He says “Say, baby, you lookin kinda blue!”
    “yeah, man, don’t this job ever get to you?
    I mean all this garbage!”

    (Oh no baby!)

    He said “Hold on Jim, I got just the thing you need!
    Here, baby, take a puff of this funny lookin’ little weed.
    Go on, man, smoke it, the first one’s free!”

    Oh well thank you!

    Well the sun was risin, shinin in the sky
    Garbage truck was drawin flies
    I didn’t care, I was ridin high
    I was out of it, stoned, swino, wasted

    Well, everything’s cool now, nothing’s wrong.
    Garbage stinks, but I float along
    Singing this happy, happy song –
    Pot’s too good to be just for the young!

  169. 169.

    janesays

    April 18, 2023 at 9:46 pm

    @gene108: Also worth noting that the net income figures you listed are for Fox Corporation, which is a far bigger entity than just Fox News. It includes both the broadcast network and Fox Sports, which are both massive operations independent of Fox News.

  170. 170.

    janesays

    April 18, 2023 at 10:04 pm

    @karen marie: That’s not remotely close to true. Fox Corporation’s revenue for all of 2021 was $12.1 billion – and that’s the entire company, not just Fox News. Revenue is all of the money that comes into a company in a given amount of time before a single expense is factored in. Once expenses (ie Tucker Carlson’s paycheck, and the paychecks of their other 9,000 employees) are factored in, the actual net income is a fraction of that $12.1B.

    $787M is gonna be pretty substantial hit to their 2023 balance sheet.

  171. 171.

    cckids

    April 18, 2023 at 10:43 pm

    @cain:I didn’t think Dominion needed money so.. something is off.

    I’m pretty sure Dominion’s owners are staunch Republicans. They want their cash, sure, and want people to know that Fox was lying about THEM, but . . . they don’t actually want Fox taken down.

  172. 172.

    BellyCat

    April 18, 2023 at 10:59 pm

    Tom… You captured my EXACT emotion upon hearing the settlement news. Thank you.

  173. 173.

    Quinerly

    April 18, 2023 at 11:10 pm

    @oldgold:

    Nailed it.

  174. 174.

    Ruckus

    April 18, 2023 at 11:11 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    3/4 of a billion in the hand is worth more than 1 billion 5 yrs down the road. And it might have cost them 1/4 billion in lawyers fees and such by a suit decision and payout time.

    Considering that if fox thought it was in any way a winnable suit they might have thrown a lot of money at it. And they did get 3/4 of a billion which means fox likely thought they would lose. What if they went all the way and ended up with 1/2 a billion? A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Technically fox may not have admitted fault but the public perception should be that they did, by paying 3/4 of a billion up front.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    April 18, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    Has it actually been ruined? They have a shit ton of money to do with as they please. Make their machines better, improve the process. They did actually get a public notice that they were correct by settling for this much money. And if they are out of business the share holders will get a pretty good payout.

    Yes it isn’t an open admission by fox that they fucked up, but it might as well be. As others have said they sued for possible/likely future income and that is a tough nut to crack in court unless the company is an old and valuable company with a rather positive history in the first place, and this one isn’t all that. Should it have been more? Sure it should have wiped out the old man for his decades of shit. But even an admission and 1.6 billion wasn’t going to do that. Until the way fox operates ends this is still a big deal.

    Yes I know that we all want fox to fold and go directly to hell, to burn in damnation and 2,000 degree flames but the likely hood of that happening is rather slim. This world allows people and companies to be shit. fox and rupert are just leading the pack as some of the stinkiest shit on the planet.

  176. 176.

    Ruckus

    April 18, 2023 at 11:45 pm

    @p.a.:

    I was once alternate on a criminal trial jury and had to sit in the box for days and listen to lawyers and family and then sit outside the jury room till the actual jury made a decision. I felt they made the right one btw, but still it isn’t something one wants to do as much as we think we do. I’ve also been on a trial that the guy copped before we had to make a decision. I think he thought he’d get a lighter sentence. I was also called up for duty for a first degree murder trial but that guy copped before we even went to jury selection.

    I really don’t want to do this ever again. It is a pretty big weight on a person. But yes it is part of being a citizen so if I was asked sure I’d show up. Imagine being on that fox/Dominion suit. That could be a very long trial, mainly because fox would likely draw it out as much as possible and how would the find a neutral jury?

  177. 177.

    Manyakitty

    April 18, 2023 at 11:52 pm

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: wonderful 😍 enjoy!

  178. 178.

    Ruckus

    April 19, 2023 at 12:10 am

    @A Good Woman:

    This part is really disappointing.

    To me the disappointing part is that fox still exists. And that wouldn’t have been changed by this going to trial. As others have said they make a lot more money than this in a year. I do bet it really burned the old fart Rupert to make out that check but still he knows what he does and how much his entire outfit lies like the sun in the sky – every day and all day long. And this trial would not have changed that one iota or changed his concept of news of politics or anything else. He would have had to pay more, big deal so what, this is/would have been in it’s entirety, spare change to him. And Dominion would have had to pay lawyers and all that and any money would come years down the road, at a cost to them they likely would never recover. I’d bet the first offer to settle was likely half or less than this amount and I’d bet they never thought they’d get this much in the end, let alone at the start.

    This settlement and amount really is a big fucking deal unless every outlet reports that Dominion got screwed. Because they really didn’t.

  179. 179.

    grubert

    April 19, 2023 at 10:35 am

    Civil law suits aren’t really about justice.  They’re about money.

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