The allegations relate to Fox News costing Dominion millions of dollars by spreading false information during the 2020 election. Initially, Dominion sued Fox for $1.6 billion. The final settlement of $787 million was agreed upon during the trial on Tuesday. This marks one of the largest settlements in a defamation case in U.S. History.
Dominion Voting Systems is an election technology company that served 28 states in 2020, including many swing states. By providing a platform to election deniers, Fox endorsed lies about Dominion voting machines, which directly impacted the success of the business.
Tucker Carlson: Electronic voting is not as secure as traditional hand counting, period. It never will be as secure. Voters can see this because it’s obvious and it makes them nervous, and why wouldn’t it make them nervous? Our leaders have given us every reason not to trust technology.
Tucker Carlson, among other Fox News anchors have been accused of spreading misinformation regarding election data.
Following the settlement, Fox released a statement acknowledging how it reflects their “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” Fox decided to settle, rather than go through with a drawn-out trial in hopes to move past the dispute and re-establish themselves as a leading news source.
With the story at the forefront of most news sources, USC Philosophy, Politics, and Law student Ava Schwartzapfel contributes to the conversation with her thoughts on the fairness of the settlement.
Ava Schwartzapfel: I think the really important thing is that Fox openly admitted for the first time that a lot of the things they said weren’t true and that many of the people up there reporting it also knew it wasn’t true at the time, which was the first time they had said that. So although the money might have not been equal, I think the result was still really important and made and was like a positive move for our justice system overall, regardless of the actual finance.
Ava believes it is important for all students, especially those who are politically active, to talk about what the defamation case means for trust in news media sources moving forward.
Ava Schwartzapfel: I think this is a great lesson for students to learn that you need to do your own research and kind of need to rely on your own mind to form your own opinions, because a lot of opinions that you’re being fed are totally, totally blind and not even supported by the person who’s saying it.
For Annenberg media, I’m Reagan Smith