On Tuesday, it was announced that Fox News had settled a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, which is responsible for voting machines in many states. Following the 2020 election, many charged that these systems could be tampered with to skew votes, with these perspectives being featured on Fox News.
According to reports, Fox News settled the lawsuit for less than half the $1.6 billion in damages sought by Dominion, with the company getting a whopping $787.5 million from the Rupert Murdoch-owned news company.
Fox released a statement following the settlement news, writing that it is “pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. 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.”
In its response to the original case, Fox News charged Dominion with taking “an extreme view of defamation law that would stop the media in its tracks,” hampering First Amendment-protected speech.
Leftist media outlets were salivating at the thought of the case going to trial, but were noticeably down with the news that there wouldn’t be wall-to-wall coverage of the spectacle.
Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were angered by the settlement, with Kimmel saying, “We naively thought this was about making Fox News take responsibility for destroying their reputation because that’s what they told us it was about.”
He added, But no, they took the money instead — which means the liars who knowingly misled their oatmeal-brained viewers and seriously damaged our democracy don’t have to say anything about it at all … while Dominion and their lawyers go shopping for yachts.”
Colbert said, “I guess it’s satisfying. I mean, for Dominion, that Rupee had to fork over a pile of cash, but that does nothing for our democracy.”
Before the settlement was reached, journalist James O’Keeffe, regarding his own defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, “Whatever the outcome of Dominion, the double standards between that and my libel lawsuit against the NYT – is just insane. Both come down to ‘actual Malice’ Rosenberg at NYT said they ‘f*cked up’ in my case.”