Tag: Right Wing Media

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Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Fox Attorneys Won’t Be Allowed To Use Critical Defense Arguments In Dominion Lawsuit: Report

Now that a judge has decided a jury will be empaneled to hear the case of Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News, the conservative network is about to face a monumental task of defending itself from a $1.6 billion lawsuit without several crucial defense arguments.

That was the topic of discussion Sunday on MSNBC when host Katie Phang spoke with Jeremy Peters of The New York Times.

“Judge Eric Davis on Friday decimated much of Fox’s potential trial defenses, ruling that Fox cannot invoke the neutral report privilege because the evidence does not support that Fox conducted good faith reporting, Phang noted. “The judge is also blocking Fox from using the fair reporting privilege because the statements made by Fox and its guests were not related to official proceedings.”

Peters concurred with Phang, adding, “When the jury gets the case several of Fox’s key arguments will not be available for its lawyers to make.”

The Times reporter then elaborated:

“Several of these will have already been decided in Dominion’s favor because of the judge’s decision on Friday. So what this does is it significantly limits Fox’s ability to mount a defense and leaves for the jury the key question of whether or not there is enough evidence to show that Fox hosts, producers and executives knew what they were putting on the air was false or at least recklessly disregarded information showing that it was false.”

“That is how you get to potentially significant and sizeable judgment against Fox News,” Peters added. “Dominion is asking for $1.6 billion and appears that, unless this settles, which I think it’s highly unlikely at this point, and has already been highly unlikely because Fox appears to be preserving its options for appeal here, this is going to head to the jury and it will be one of the most significant and far-reaching defamation suits against a major media company that we have seen in decades.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWTdkuxP2d4

Fox is also facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, an election and software technology company.

The first line of that lawsuit lays out exactly how both Smartmatic and Dominion plan to win their cases against Fox:

“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.”

None of those facts are up for debate. And they could wind up bankrupting Fox.

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Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Here’s Why Fox’s Maria Bartiromo May Soon Be Broke And Unemployable

With Fox News facing the prospect of having to pay billions for lies their hosts told about the 2020 presidential election, one host in particular is on the verge of destroying the network’s already flimsy defense and also winding up being unemployable on any platform.

Maria Bartiromo is most often seen on Fox Business, but also does a Sunday program that appears on Fox News, “Sunday Morning Futures.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that testimony Bartiromo gave as part of the ongoing $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems is damning for Bartriromo and Fox.

Attorneys for Fox have repeatedly asserted that hosts such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Ingraham were merely offering their opinions on the 2020 election and never intended them to be statements of fact that require proof.

“In released court documents and deposition testimony connected to the case, Bartiromo is cited throughout for allowing former President Trump’s false claims about 2020 election fraud to air on the network in an effort to stop angry viewers from abandoning the network. Court testimony shows that in the days leading up to and following the 2020 election, colleagues and executives raised questions about Bartiromo’s online activity and expressed concerns that she was influenced by right-wing conspiracy theorists.”

Why is that a problem? Because Bartiromo herself said under oath that she’s a journalist who reports facts, not opinions.

“Bartiromo is one of four Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities cited in the suit along with Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, who is no longer part of the company. Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that they all promoted false claims about the 2020 election, which he believed was fair.”

And therein lies the rub:

“The difference with Bartiromo is she identifies as a news anchor, as she indicated in her testimony. Hannity, Dobbs and Pirro are considered opinion hosts, and executives at Fox News testified that they are not held to the same journalistic standards as straight news programs.”

Even worse for Fox is that Bartiromo also testified “that no one in management did anything to stop her or force her to correct the record.”

“Bartiromo herself made misstatements, such as repeating inaccurate claims that Dominion was owned by voting software company Smartmatic, which is also suing Fox News and other conservative networks for defamation … several Fox News executives in their testimony concurred with Dominion’s assertions that Bartiromo did not challenge any of [Sidney] Powell’s false statements when she appeared on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ Bartiromo also admitted that she never presented any evidence to counter Powell’s claims, even though she was provided with correct information provided by Dominion and other Fox News journalists.”

Bartiromo had the facts and the pushback from Dominion, but she chose to believe bullshit conspiracy theories. How’s that for a “straight news” anchor?

Fox is going to lose the Dominion lawsuit. They will likely lose the one filed by Smartmatic, which is for $2.7 billion, too. Punitive damages in both of those suits would bankrupt Fox News. It would also all but guarantee that Maria Bartriomo never works in the media for as long as she walks the face of the planet.

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Fox News Media in America

Dominion Lawsuit Likely To Result In ‘Financial Death Penalty’ For Fox News

If Dominion Voting Systems prevail in their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, it could result in a “financial death penalty” for the network, leaving it unable to survive due to a lack of operating capital, according to former prosecutor Katie Phang.

In a column she wrote for MSNBC, Phang notes that “Fox is now trapped in an ever-worsening spiral of lies of its own creation. Time and time again, Fox allegedly trafficked in lies and falsehoods.”

The court filing laying out text messages sent by Fox executives and on-air hosts released this week is especially damning, Phang continues:

“Dominion doesn’t just have the upper hand, it has the truth on its side. If Dominion is successful, then all that would be left to determine is the amount of damages that Dominion is entitled to receive. That’s where the numbers become astronomical. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm.”

And then there’s the possibility of punitive damages, which could result in billions more being awarded to Dominion, Phang explains.

“Punitive damages … are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars. Punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and to deter others from repeating that egregious conduct. And a multi-billion-dollar punitive damages verdict would not just punish Fox News. It would send a ringing message to all media companies to keep themselves in check and uphold the truth.”

Here’s more on the Dominion-Fox lawsuit from MSNBC:

 

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Fox News

WATCH Laura Ingraham Get Trolled To Her Face By A Guest On Her Show 

Fox News host Laura Ingraham got reminded of the network’s repeated fearmongering and sexual harassment scandals during an interview with author Steve Almond on Wednesday evening.

Almond, who wrote Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto had been invited to discuss the issue of safety in sports after the tragic collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday evening during a game between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.

But, as Mediaite reports, Almond came loaded with facts and wasn’t shy about using them.

“What do you want?” Ingraham asked the author. “I’ve seen stampedes at soccer games, major fights at hockey games. I’ve seen fights at cricket competitions. What do you want? I’m not getting it.”

Almond said the league needs a financial “incentive” to make the game safer. He proposed weight limits for players so they “aren’t bulking themselves up on unnatural weights.” He then suggested monitors on helmets look for hard hits that might otherwise go unnoticed.

He also argued the NFL has a “PR problem” he said was not unlike that of Ingraham’s network.

“It’s like at Fox News when you have hosts who are allegedly sexually harassing people,” he said. “Fox News throws money at that to make that PR problem go away.”

Clearly taken aback by Almond’s remarks, Ingraham tried to recover:

“That’s a cute little move. I’m trying to get you to answer a question.”

Almond was ready for that, too:

“I’m focused on the fans and what I believe is not that any government ban is going to make football safer, and not some mythic woke mob that you mentioned to try to scare your viewers.”

Ingraham:

Football is “not about politics. You’re making it about politics.”

The author continued to slam Fox:

“That’s your entire economic model. That’s to scare your viewers. That’s your whole gig.”

Almond then reminded Ingraham of her own bad actions:

“A couple of years when you taunted a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting, you apologized only because advertisers withdrew from your show.”

At that point, Ingraham abruptly ended the discussion by remarking:

“Nice try, buddy,. That’s what they always do.”

Here’s the video. Enjoy!

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Capitol Insurrection January 6 Media in America WTF?!

Fox News Is Now Referring To The Jan. 6 Insurrection As An ‘Election Justice Protest’

If you’ve read George Orwell’s novel, 1984, then you know one of the most important ways the totalitarian government of Big Brother keeps control over the people is with the use of language, especially as that language relates to the news and information people are shown.

Orwell called the manipulation of language for the purpose of tyranny “Newspeak,” and he explained in an appendix to the novel:

The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.

Open Culture elaborates on that idea:

Newspeak isn’t just a set of buzzwords, but the deliberate replacement of one set of words in the language for another.

There are examples of newspeak throughout the novel, most notably in the phrase, “War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.”

Such a twisting of the language is essential for creating a “reality” that is pleasing to the overlords who control everything that’s seen and heard in Orwell’s new world.

Newspeak is taking place in the United States right now, most notably at Fox News, where the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection is being rebranded by Fox host Tucker Carlson as an “election justice protest,” Media Matters reports, and Carlson added:

“So again, that’s the sitting vice president who they tell us over and over, and you just heard her say it, received more votes than any vice president in history. And if you don’t believe that ― and there are reasons not to believe that ― if you don’t believe that, you’re like [Sept. 11 hijacker] Mohamed Atta. Your beliefs are acts of terror, you’re comparable to a mass murderer and you need to be pursued by law enforcement.”

Rioting and insurrection are now being fed to the Fox masses as an “election justice protest.” The truth is too real, so it must be bent to serve another narrative, one that papers over the murder committed on Jan. 6 and turns it into a protest for justice.

Newspeak is not just a matter of fiction. It’s among us, and it’s a very real threat to this republic.