Fox News has FINALLY gone too far! Smartmatic (the electronic voting systems company) has filed a defamation lawsuit against the conservative “news” network to the tune of $2.7 BILLION dollars!!
Current Events
In order to soothe the delusional rants of one Donald John Trump, Fox News spent weeks of post-election news coverage regurgitating the Big Trump Lie that the election was stolen and that voting machine companies such as Smartmatic, Dominion, and others were responsible for the fraud. Although Fox is notorious for fabricating fake news claims as red meat for their rabid conservative base, they’ve never been formally called on their lies — until now.
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The lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court against Fox News and included anchors Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro. Also named in the suit were former Trump attorney’s Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
According to the 276-page complaint, Smartmatic charged that Giuliani and Powell “created a story about Smartmatic” and that “Fox joined the conspiracy to defame and disparage Smartmatic and its election technology and software.”
Here’s why this is a huge problem for Fox.
If Fox News coverage were branded as an “entertainment” show (such as “The Daily Show” and their admittedly “fake” news on Comedy Central), it could get away with saying almost anything under the guise of being comedic. However, they have chosen to brand as a legitimate news source, which subjects them to certain standards of truth they have refused to follow.
Their relentless claims over many months that Smartmatic voting machines created a fraudulent election result are, in fact, libelous. Defaming a company — particularly when the claims are proven to be outright lies (and on videotape) — has historically never worked in favor of the defamer. Or, in other words, if the Smartmatic lawsuit is successful (as expected it will be), a $2.7 billion dollar judgment against Fox News could theoretically bankrupt the network and force it off the air.
“When you are making statements that are knowingly false, and you make them with malice, and you actually tarnish reputations and it has a financial consequence — that’s why you have defamation lawsuits in the first place,” said CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates.
“Libel suits against media organizations are typically filed on a slippery slope. Journalists have good reason to be concerned about these types of cases. And nuisance lawsuits against newsrooms are a real problem. But I think it’s safe to say that Smartmatic’s action against Fox is not a nuisance suit, and it has little to do with news. It’s going to be hard for Fox to wrap its hosts in a press freedom flag. This case is about entertainers who gave fuel to lies in a desperate bid to keep Trump in power,” added CNN’s Brian Stelter.
In an effort to save the network from extinction and immediately deploy the emergency brake to their on-air hosts who present a regular diet of deceit and lies, Fox News abruptly canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” — its highest-rated show and biggest fabricator of Trump/MAGA lies.
“Lou Dobbs Tonight is off the air, effective immediately,” a Fox spokesperson confirmed on Friday. They added that an interim show will take Dobbs’ place at 5 and 7 pm Eastern beginning Monday.
Removing Dobbs from his show on Fox was the equivalent of firing him, since it would be nonsensical to shift him to some other show and provide a platform to do more damage to the network. In fact, The Los Angeles Times said that although Dobbs remains under contract at Fox News, “he will in all likelihood not appear on the company’s networks again.”
Fox News was previously sued for promoting the belief that COVID-19 a hoax.
So, good for Smartmatic for refusing to allow Trump/MAGA/QAnon conspiracy lies peddled by Fox News to ruin their reputation and their business model.
As for Fox, an old phrase probably says it best:
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
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If Fox News coverage were branded as an “entertainment” show (such as “The Daily Show” and their admittedly “fake” news on Comedy Central), it could get away with saying almost anything under the guise of being comedic. However, they have chosen to brand as a legitimate news source, which subjects them to certain standards of truth they have refused to follow. […]- DJ Ever. (at any time) DJ does a good job of laying it all out there, point by point, of just why this lawsuit is indeed a “huge problem” for Faux News. Frankly, I also think Lou may be the First of several sacrificial synchphants that Faux will eventually get rid of. But we shall see. Lou Dobbs was the top-rated show of the Faux Business channel -a channel with LOW viewership. The guy is toxic. Advertisers want nothing to do with him. Faux made no money off of his show. I agree with people… Read more »