Dominion Defamation Suit Against Fox News (1 Viewer)

[MT15]

The newest court filing is a true bombshell. Fox Executives’ and hosts’ texts and emails portray a consensus that the stories about the 2020 election being stolen were bunk, completely false, and yet they made a conscious decision to highlight them anyway.

There is so much coming out that this can use its own thread, as suggested.

 

[superchuck500]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Fox News looks set to benefit from a tax write-off from its $787m payout to Dominion Voting Systems, it has been revealed.

Fox Corporation executive Brian Nick confirmed to Lever News that the historic settlement is tax deductible but would not reveal the amount that the network will be able to write off.

However the revelation means that the landmark payout – the largest in US history for a libel case – might not harm Fox News’ profits as much as expected.

The settlement was reached on Tuesday, moments before opening arguments were to get under way in the defamation trial – rescuing Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson and other big names from being called to testify over the 2020 election lies.

On Wednesday, Fox News finally featured the deal in its own coverage but only in a short 256-word story that made no mention of why the company was sued or how much it cost the network to make the trial go away……..

Murdoch’s son drops lawsuit against news site after Fox News Dominion payout

Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and other big names have all avoided being called to testify over 2020 election lies

www.independent.co.uk

 

[FullMonte]

Fox News looks set to benefit from a tax write-off from its $787m payout to Dominion Voting Systems, it has been revealed.

Fox Corporation executive Brian Nick confirmed to Lever News that the historic settlement is tax deductible but would not reveal the amount that the network will be able to write off.

However the revelation means that the landmark payout – the largest in US history for a libel case – might not harm Fox News’ profits as much as expected.

The settlement was reached on Tuesday, moments before opening arguments were to get under way in the defamation trial – rescuing Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson and other big names from being called to testify over the 2020 election lies.

On Wednesday, Fox News finally featured the deal in its own coverage but only in a short 256-word story that made no mention of why the company was sued or how much it cost the network to make the trial go away……..

Murdoch’s son drops lawsuit against news site after Fox News Dominion payout

Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and other big names have all avoided being called to testify over 2020 election lies

www.independent.co.uk

Yep…it’s good to know that the taxpayers will be picking up part of the tab for Fox’s lies.

 

[superchuck500]

lol

 

[Optimus Prime]

Smartmatic has revealed what it would take for the voting systems company to settle its own defamation lawsuit with Fox News – following the right-wing network’s landmark agreement with Dominion Voting Systems this week.

The company’s lawyer said on Thursday that Smartmatic plans to have its day in court to get “the vindication of a jury verdict in their favour” over the 2020 election lies it claims Fox News pushed on its network.

However, a settlement could be in the cards – but only if Fox News makes a “full retraction” and “apology” and pays out more than the $787m settlement it has agreed to pay Dominion, according to Smartmatic……

Smartmatic reveals what it will take for it to settle with Fox News

Dominion case is far from Fox News’ only legal troubles as the network still faces lawsuits from Smartmatic, former producer Abby Grossberg and its own shareholders

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

With Fox News humbled into a $787.5m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over election lies this week, it might be expected that the conservative TV channel’s outspoken hosts would tone down the misinformation a bit, soften their rhetoric – basically, just chill out.

None of that has happened.

Instead Fox News has continued just where it left off, serving viewers a largely imagined, and utterly terrifying, version of the US: one where trans people are on the warpath, where people in New York City are never more than 6ft from either a rat or being murdered, and where the government is attempting to “send away” Fox News viewers to an undefined but ominous sounding “camp”.

Just a normal week, in other words, as America’s most-watched news channel mainly ignored the Dominion lawsuit – brought after Fox News repeatedly aired untrue accusations that the company’s voting machines had been manipulated to flip votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden – and got back to basics.

On Thursday night Tucker Carlson, Fox News’s most performatively upset host, was churning out the usual hits on his 8pm show, with Hunter Biden, “racial violence”, and “transgenderists” to the fore.

“Say what you will about elected Democrats but they know where the power is. They’re like truffle pigs for power,” was how Carlson began his show. He then made a pig noise, before accusing Joe Biden of attempting to subvert the course of justice regarding an investigation into his son…….

Hunter Biden and ‘dirty’ New York: Fox News back to basics after lawsuit

Network’s $787.5m settlement with Dominion over election lies is barely mentioned as hosts pick up where they left off

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

……The last-minute deal came as a surprise to those who were looking forward to a blockbuster courtroom drama, but the bigger shock might be that Fox didn’t settle earlier.

Given that the judge had already gone into caps-lock mode when he ruled in March that it “is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true”, the chances of a Fox win were always dicey.

The settlement brought disappointment in what we might call the reality-based community. Plenty were licking their lips at the prospect of seeing Fox News’s bosses and biggest stars – the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity – forced to admit, on the stand and on camera, not only that the Trump claim of a stolen election was a lie but that they had always known it was a lie, even if they pretended otherwise on air.

That much had already been established by the thousands of private emails, texts and WhatsApp messages released through the pre-trial discovery process, which showed Fox executives and talent contemptuous of the very claims the network was amplifying, day after day. The “software shirt is absurd,” Carlson said in one note, later writing that the source of that particular claim, a regular guest on the network, was “lying”.

An under-oath grilling of the Fox elite, culminating in a confession of guilt, would have been emotionally satisfying, even cathartic, for an America that has seen jail sentences for those who stormed Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021 but no real consequences for those who led them there: the politicians and propagandists who pushed the big lie so effectively that 63% of Republican voters still believe, even now, that Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election.

Instead, there will be no witness box humiliation, not even an apology. On the contrary, the network’s post-deal statement, declaring that “this settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards”, committed the very abuse of the facts for which the company had just paid out three-quarters of a billion dollars.

Indeed, the brazenness of that statement suggests that, in the absence of a bruising, televised trial and a guilty verdict, it will be business as usual at Fox. Sure, they’ll probably be more careful with their WhatsApps from now on, and they’ll keep the target of any future falsehoods general (“liberals” or “the deep state”), rather than naming specific corporations, but otherwise they have little incentive to change their modus operandi. After all, Fox News is still America’s most watched cable news channel. The model still works. This week’s payout can be written off as simply the price of doing business……..

Fox News and its audience became hooked on lies – now they can’t break the habit | Jonathan Freedland

Evidence revealed in the Dominion case exposed the channel as the hostage of its viewers’ fantasy: a Trump election victory, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Fox Corp.‘s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges is eye-popping, but the ultimate cost to the media company is likely to be much lower.

On Tuesday, Fox settled with Dominion over charges that Fox News baselessly accused the company of rigging its voting machines against former President Donald Trump in 2020. It was the most-watched media libel case in decades.

Fox had about $4 billion of cash on hand as of December 2022, and MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman expects the company to pay the settlement during the current quarter.

How much the lawsuit will actually end up costing Fox is unclear because there are ways it can defray some of the expense, primarily through insurance and the use of tax deductions.

Fox can deduct the Dominion settlement from its income taxes as an expense necessary for the cost of doing business. Fox Chief Communications Officer Brian Nick has confirmed the deductibility of the settlement.


Big companies often deduct large settlements to help offset some of the cost, but since settlement amounts are usually confidential, it’s difficult to pin down exactly how much they benefit. Payments that are seen as restitution or compensation can be deducted, while payments made to the government or at the direction of a government are usually not deductible.

Robert Willens, a tax professor at the Columbia University School of Business, estimates that after the tax write-off, Fox will incur about three-fourths of the settlement amount, about $590 million……

Fox's settlement with Dominion unlikely to cost it $787.5M

Fox Corp.’s $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges is eye-popping, but the ultimate cost to the media company is likely to be much lower. Fox has several levers it can pull to help defray the cost of the settlement. It can deduct the settlement from its...

apnews.com

 

[Incumbent]

Carlson is leaving.

Tucker Carlson leaves Fox News in wake of Dominion defamation settlement

Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, the network said.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Dragon]

Carlson is leaving.

Tucker Carlson leaves Fox News in wake of Dominion defamation settlement

Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, the network said.

www.cnbc.com

Wonder if this is part of an "unwritten agreement" between Fox and Dominion. Fox avoid having to offer an on air appology and admit that they lied in exchange for getting rid of Carlson

 

[Optimus Prime]

I’m sure he’ll be welcomed by newsmax or OAN with open arms

Or he’ll go the solo podcast route like Alex Jones

 

[Incumbent]

Wonder if this is part of an "unwritten agreement" between Fox and Dominion. Fox avoid having to offer an on air appology and admit that they lied in exchange for getting rid of Carlson

Going to be interesting to see if there is a noticeable shift with FOX to avoid this kind of liability exposure in the future but there is still some awful talking-heads at that network, so they would have a lot of work left to do.

Newsmax probably has a warm chair waiting for Carlson, or he'll find some other outlet to continue his self-enriching divisive and damaging rhetoric.

 

[Taurus]

Going to be interesting to see if there is a noticeable shift with FOX to avoid this kind of liability exposure in the future but there is still some awful talking-heads at that network, so they would have a lot of work left to do.

Newsmax probably has a warm chair waiting for Carlson, or he'll find some other outlet to continue his self-enriching divisive and damaging rhetoric.

"Hello, Vlad? Yeah, about that offer. Turns out I'm available. Got any of those yachts left?"

 

[coldseat]

Hmmmm, this seems rather immediate. It certainly wasn't planned for Carlson to leave. I wondering if there isn't some huge child porn scandal or some news like that about to break with Carlson.

 

[FullMonte]

Wonder if this is part of an "unwritten agreement" between Fox and Dominion. Fox avoid having to offer an on air appology and admit that they lied in exchange for getting rid of Carlson

I was wondering if he was told to rein in the craziness and lies, and he decided against that.

 

[SFIDC3]

Wonder if this is part of an "unwritten agreement" between Fox and Dominion. Fox avoid having to offer an on air appology and admit that they lied in exchange for getting rid of Carlson

Don't know about "unwritten" but I believe it was part of the settlement deal....I guess it's a good thing, hopefully it's the beginning of the end for FOX.....

 

[SamAndreas]

Hmmmm, this seems rather immediate. It certainly was planned for Carlson to leave. I wondering if there isn't some huge child porn scandal or some news like that about to break with Carlson.

NBC news is reporting that Tucker says one thing on his show, and then tells a completely different story among "friends." He apparently hates Trump.

"I hate him passionately," Carlson said in a text message to an unidentified person on Jan. 4, 2021, according to exhibits unsealed before the Dominion trial was set to begin. (Fox and Dominion settled the suit for $787.5 million last Tuesday, just as opening statements in the trial were set to begin.)"

Tucker Carlson and Fox News part ways

The stunning announcement came days after the network settled a high-stakes defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[CoolBrees]

You don’t sign off “… when we see you on Monday…..” if you are planning on being gone.

In other words, he got fired and with prejudice. They didn’t even let him sign off. They did him dirty and I couldn’t be happier about it.