The sum of $787.5 million would be no easy thing to surrender, not even for Fox News, Rupert Murdoch’s cable TV cash cow. But what the news network was forced to say after settling Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit Tuesday – acknowledging “certain claims about Dominion to be false” – was surely a point of intense debate in those 11th-hour negotiations.
The second sentence of the one-paragraph post-settlement statement was the network’s only hint of contrition, and was not nearly as starkly as Dominion put it: Fox lied.
“Fox has admitted to telling lies,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said in his company’s official response. Added company lawyer Justin Nelson, speaking outside of court: “Lies have consequences.”
You’ll never catch Fox News using the “L” word – but you can bet $787.5 million that Dominion was explicitly OK’d to do so.
But one thing Fox viewers will not see from those talks is an on-air apology or retraction of any kind broadcast on Fox News, according to CNN’s Oliver Darcy. Fox has defended its reputation with an infamous ferocity going back to its founding in 1996, so any on-air apology would have been a major, if not unprecedented, concession. And when asked at the post-settlement press conference whether Fox CEO Murdoch apologized, Dominion attorneys demurred.
The Fox statement said, "We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false."
So what did that ruling say?
Judge Davis: There was "extensive proof"...
CHESHIRE Police says that it has arrested a Warrington woman on suspicion of wasting police time after resources from two police forces were diverted to ‘false kidnap claims’. In the early hours o...