Opinion | Fox News has settled a lawsuit for millions. But it still won’t apologize for lying

Fox News must feel pretty good about how this ended.

That may sound insane. On Tuesday, the conservative network and evening playpen for blowtorch ideologues such as Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, put a price on the lies it spread after the 2020 election: $787.5 million (U.S.).

That’s about half the $1.6 billion Dominion Voting Systems was seeking in its defamation lawsuit. But the settlement, which came as the trial was set to begin, spared Fox further humiliations from weeks of testimony that may have included Lou Dobbs or Maria Bartiromo explaining how the ghost of Hugo Chavez, in sinister cahoots with George Soros, Chinese shape-shifters and Hunter Biden’s heroin dealer, stole the election from Donald Trump.

In a statement too bland for “Sesame Street,” Fox said: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” That’s like looting a Hermès and acknowledging certain items may have vanished from the boutique.

Fox also said the settlement reflects its “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” The statement was so preposterous on its face, it caused CNN’s Jake Tapper’s face to burst into laughter as he read it on air.

But you know who doesn’t know about the settlement? Fox viewers.

You can’t watch that network for an hour without hearing alarmist laments about drag shows or illegal immigrants. But one of the biggest media payouts in history?

Crickets. And this is why execs must be exhaling with relief.

As we learned from texts and emails obtained by Dominion, the reason Fox management and talent allowed their airwaves to morph into a conveyor belt of wild conspiracies was they were terrified of losing viewers. With the possible exception of Bartiromo, everyone at Fox knew Joe Biden won the election.

Telling the truth was bad for business.

At a press conference Tuesday, Dominion lawyers and bigwigs, flanked by a fellow hoisting a “Make Em Pay” placard, sounded ecstatic about the settlement. Fair enough: $787 million is roughly $710 million more than the company is worth. Staple Street Capital, which owns Dominion, must feel like it just won the Powerball.

But shouldn’t it have insisted on something money can’t buy?

Fox did not apologize this week. There were no retractions at the top of every program. If Dominion’s accountability goal included mending reputational harm, why not demand Fox admit its mendacity to the viewers who lapped it up as gospel?

These are millions who still believe the election was stolen.

Fox viewers are unique in how little they channel surf. The average Fox viewer would rather watch a four-hour foreign language gay rom-com with subtitles than 30 seconds of MSNBC. If you ever utter the words “Rachel Maddow” to a hardcore Fox fan, there’s a good chance you will get blown away with an AR-15. Then your corpse will be draped with a giant “Trump 2024” flag. Or pelted with despised cans of Bud Light.

Yes, $787.5 million seems like a staggering amount. But given the annual revenue and profits of Fox Corp., staffers will not be asked to bring their own coffee to work. Fox has opened the vault to settle previous lawsuits, including for sexual harassment.

Rupert Murdoch could fish millions out of his underwear drawer.

By not including an apology and/or retraction in its settlement, Dominion allowed Fox to escape a far more damaging penalty: telling the truth to viewers. Over the last year, pundits have declared this case a litmus test for democracy. But if citizens who believed the lies still believe the lies, how exactly is democracy in better shape?

Fox is not out of the henhouse just yet. The network is still facing a lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting tech firm that is suing for $2.7 billion. If a settlement is reached in that case, hopefully Smartmatic does the smart thing by forcing Fox to fall on its sword. Smartmatic should ask for a chyron, to be displayed 24/7 for a month, that reads: “The election was not rigged. Biden is legit. We lied. We apologize.”

Fox News became a ratings juggernaut by weaponizing anti-liberal sentiment and a creeping distrust of institutions. The only time MAGA cultists will boo Dear Leader is when Trump takes credit for fast-tracking vaccines. That’s why you will never hear him use the v-word ever again. He knows it is safer to praise AOC than Pfizer.

In a pretrial deposition, Murdoch admitted his network, in existential fear of losing market share to Newsmax or OANN, platformed lies because they did not want to take a pinata bat to Trump: “He had a very large following and they were probably mostly viewers of Fox, so it would have been stupid.”

As utterly stupid as giving unchallenged airtime to the deranged Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell or Rudy Giuliani, all of whom remain in Dominion’s legal bombsights? If you want to have an honest segment on space exploration, you don’t book a flat-earther.

And after the election, Fox was flat-earth central.

Does it now have 787 million reasons to disincentivize future lying?

Colour me doubtful. That is why this missed apology and retraction is a shame.

Unlike Gawker, which went belly up after losing a defamation case to Hulk Hogan, Fox can pay this settlement just as easily as you or I can buy milk and bread.

And its “highest journalistic standards” can remain “say anything for ratings.”

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