Fox News didn't contend it had no legal obligation to be truthful, nor did a court uphold that. The lawsuit cited in the post involved two reporters who sued a Fox affiliate over breach of contract and retaliatory firing in 1998.
The reporters said the Fox affiliate made revisions to a story that distorted the truth. Although the station denied such allegations, it did argue that the First Amendment barred judicial review of editorial discretion.
An appeals court sided with the Fox affiliate, but it did not address the station's First Amendment argument.
A viral post recycled an old claim that Fox News Channel is officially registered as an entertainment outlet — not an authentic news organization. To build the case, the post said Fox even sought the legal right to tell lies.
"Fox is not a news organization. It is GOP propaganda in a format that appears to be a TV news channel," an Aug. 21 Facebook post read. The image goes on to claim that Fox won a legal appeal "that declared it had no legal obligation to be truthful in its reporting."
Then it asked: "What reputable news organization would litigate for its right to tell lies?"
This claim about Fox News is wrong, and it was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
PolitiFact fact-checked a similar statement in 2014. We found that the lawsuit did not involve Fox News Channel; it centered...
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