Fox News has settled a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5m over claims made on the channel about the 2020 presidential election. The settlement came after private messages from Tucker Carlson, one of Fox News’ top stars, were revealed.
The messages contained crude, offensive comments beyond the rhetoric of Carlson’s prime-time show. The Fox News leadership reportedly found out about these messages just before the trial was due to start.
This discovery allegedly put pressure on the company to avoid the trial, which could have involved Carlson and others at the network answering questions about their private messages.
Fox News, the network at the heart of the historic defamation suit, covered the settlement only three times in about four hours, “amounting to about six minutes of coverage,” according to the New York Times. https://t.co/L8HxaovFX8
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 19, 2023
According To The New York Times
The New York Times reported that this revelation led to Carlson’s firing from Fox News.
The Murdoch family, who own the channel, became impatient with Carlson over his conspiracy theory programming and his portrayal of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol as potentially being orchestrated by the federal government.
The New York Times reported the Murdochs were becoming increasingly frustrated with Carlson, who had become almost unaccountable and decided to end his tenure at the network.
Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News Media, fired Carlson via a phone call on Monday.
The New York Times article did not mention that 40 people who were undercover at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been identified and are connected to the federal government.
Fox Will Pay $787.5 Million to Settle Defamation Suit (New York Times) https://t.co/VsFpzk5r2w pic.twitter.com/D1DPwOqWex
— Management Impact Solutions Consulting (@MiExecSearch) April 19, 2023
Largest Amount
The settlement between Fox News and Dominion is the largest amount ever paid in a defamation trial. The settlement followed similar legal action taken by Dominion against other conservative media outlets, including Newsmax and One America News.
The New York Times, the newspaper that published this story, has been criticized by some for its reporting on former President Trump and the Russia collusion investigation.
The New York Times reported on claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but these allegations were later discovered to be unfounded. Some have accused the paper of being biased against conservatives and supporting liberal causes.
This article appeared in NewsHouse and has been published here with permission.
