It’s very weird to feel disappointed by a settlement of $787.5 million. But it seems that a whole lot of people are understandably disappointed by the Fox-Dominion $787.5 million settlement.
The money is monumental. No matter how much money a company has, paying out $787.5 million has to have some impact. But, of course, “some” is likely minor and short term, because, after all, the parent company, Fox Corporation, has a valuation of $23 billion, and the ad revenue keeps rolling in. (Side note: What kind of negotiation went into that “.5 million” part of the settlement. “No!! We will not accept $787 million. It’s $787.5 million, or we’re going to trial!!!” Either that or, “No!! We will not ever, never pay $788 million. But make it $787.5 million, and we’ve got a deal.” “How about we split the difference -- $787.7 million?” No!! We’re holding firm. $787.5 or we’ll take our chances in court!”) It's a two-fold disappointment. The first goes beyond the $1.6 billion originally sued for compensatory damages, and includes looking forward to how many billions a jury might have awarded in punitive damages. But it’s the second that’s harder to take – that Fox “News” does not appear required to make any acknowledgment of lying on air (let alone repeated acknowledgements for several weeks), and so the vast Fox audience will likely go blissfully unaware and ignorant of reality. Which, of course, is on-brand for Fox. Unfortunately, for better or worse, Dominion was suing on behalf of its company, and not for the country. And the company is valued at $80 million. So, when uncertain how a jury will decide, no matter how much evidence makes you confident you’ll win – and knowing how many appeals there will be, which might take years -- getting a guaranteed settlement right now of $787.5 million is disappointing to many others, but utterly understandable for the company. All this said, although it’s likely that just having to pay money (even that much money) and not acknowledge lying means Fox “News” will be close to business as usual, it also seems likely that this settlement will not have zero impact on how Fox “News” does business. After all, should election fraud and Dominion voting machines come up in the 2024 election and beyond (and sorry, “should” is the wrong word, because “when” is the right one, since it will come up in today’s Republican Party), Fox knows that all its private emails and other evidence that came to light during the Dominion discovery process are still on record – as is the judge’s ruling that Fox “News” did lie to the extent that they weren’t even allowed to argue that they didn’t. So, while I’m absolutely sure that Fox will be Fox, there has to be a certain wariness now at the channel that there’s a limit how far they can go without again putting themselves at risk. All the more so because there is still a pending lawsuit against Fox “News” by Smartmatic about its voting machines. And this suit is for even more – $2.7 billion. Moreover, although Smartmatic too is, of course, suing on behalf of the company, it says it has a different perspective. And after the settlement was announced, Smartmatic released a statement that said, “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.” So, yes, the settlement is disappointing to many Americans. And no, it’s not likely that Fox “News” will change its business practices all that much. But – they are now on notice that here is much more they can lose. So, it is no unreasonable to think that how Fox “News” deals with election fraud in the future will, at the very least, be done more carefully than before. On the other hand, it can’t be done much less carefully than before…
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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