$$$ Talks, and Fox Walks

[Suckrates]

 

Although Fox will be writing a check for 787.5 million bucks,   they were saved from having to make any on-air apology for their continued egregious lies around the 2020 election.

Tucker, Laura and Sean and all the other scum were saved from having to admit to their viewers that they were lied to.     And this condition was a Major part of the original charges, that Dominion wanted a public apology.

Now Dominion copped out,  and says that "the huge amount of money is a victory of accountability"......       What Bullshit.     They were after MONEY and they GOT IT !

"Show me the Money" always works.......

Question now is:   will this payout change Fox's future behavior ?      Fuck NO, they will probably get more brazen and worse.     

[Mavica]

This was civil litigation - not criminal - and Dominion won what it sought. Dominion's responsibility is to its stakeholders and it successfully defended the company's integrity and reputation.  Nothing is going to change the minds of FOX viewers, or Mr. Trump's supporters.

[Suckrates]

4 hours ago, Mavica said:

This was civil litigation - not criminal - and Dominion won what it sought. Dominion's responsibility is to its stakeholders and it successfully defended the company's integrity and reputation.  Nothing is going to change the minds of FOX viewers, or Mr. Trump's supporters.

The point was to STOP Fox from the egregious behavior of misinformation, and being forced to make a public apology ON-AIR might have gone a bit further to achieve that.

Now, they have no incentive to stop lying.    Money dosent seem to scare them.   And there are a bunch of independents watching Fox who might have been swayed if the newscasters were forced to admit they Lied....    As you say, the MAGA lunatics will never be affected by any negativity Fox receives for its behaviors. 

[stevenkesslar]

6 hours ago, Mavica said:

Nothing is going to change the minds of FOX viewers, or Mr. Trump's supporters.

I mostly agree.  If you mean dedicated (or fanatical) FOX viewers, or Trump supporters, I would definitely agree.  But I think what Dominion actually got, beyond the important things you noted - money and protecting their own brand - was better than an apology.

I'm not sure how you get that out of your mind.   Even if you like Tucker.  It's a little bit like leaning your husband fucked the housekeeper.  Maria Shriver probably isn't the only woman that would leave a marriage over that.  But even viewers who stay in the marriage with Tucker will always know there was a certain infidelity. 

I suspect Tucker's sway has peaked, and he's now on the way down.  Much like Donald.

1 hour ago, Suckrates said:

And there are a bunch of independents watching Fox who might have been swayed if the newscasters were forced to admit they Lied.... 

But a bunch of Independents have clearly been figuring it out on their own.  I loved this article about how Democrats should just shut the fuck up, focus on getting shit done, and let Republicans have their shit show.  I think the same principle applies to Fox, and Tucker.  Tucker has a beautiful head of hair.  Why not let him keep setting it on fire?

Quote

“In the entire [presidential] primary that’s going to happen, let the Republicans wreck each other. I think that’s the best strategy for Democrats,” Joe Trippi, the Democratic strategist ... told me. “It’s the same contrast that worked for Biden in 2020 and worked for the party to avoid a massive red wave in 2022. There’s no way this ends well for Republicans.”

Nor does it end well for Fox.  Even though @Mavica is correct that a dedicated core of Fox/Trump supporters will circle the wagons.  Just like when the Senate censured Joe McCarthy. McCarthy lost that fight overwhelmingly.  Despite the fact that he had half the Republicans on his side.  When you look at the 2020 election, the 2022 election, and the polls, it's been very consistent.  Independents view this stuff like nails on the chalkboard.

But don't just take my word for it.  Let's check with the fake media, and fake polls:

Quote

According to the results, 93% of Democrats agreed that the network should be held accountable, and 67% of self-identified independents agreed. Not surprisingly, there was a partisan gap — GOP voters are bound to be more sympathetic toward an outlet aligned with GOP politics — but Quinnipiac nevertheless found that 41% of Republicans also believe that Fox News should be held accountable.

So I'm with Trippi.  I don't think this ends well for Republicans.  Or Tucker.  Poor thing.

[xpaulo]

1 hour ago, stevenkesslar said:

was better than an apology

Agree. An apology that's not sincere is worthless to me. But I would love a big pile of U.S. dollars.

[stevenkesslar]

4 hours ago, xpaulo said:

Agree. An apology that's not sincere is worthless to me. But I would love a big pile of U.S. dollars.

I'm guessing Dominion feels the same way.  😀

Fox Dominion payout becomes largest media settlement in history

Payout is 10 times Dominion’s valuation in 2018

Here's something else interesting:

Quote

The payout is only the second-largest awarded in US history.

The larger penalty was handed over to Alex Jones when he was ordered last November to pay $965m to the parents of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Geez.  Maybe it's the start of a trend!  As several analysts have noted, Alex Jones will never pay that money.  Since he is now basically ruined.  Dominion, on the other hand, will actually get their money.

And now for a contrarian opinion, Politico's media critic Jack Shafer opined that Murdoch "wins again" and this settlement is "just the cost of doing business."  True enough.  But I don't think anyone ever thought this would drive Fox out of business.  If anything, the idea was that Team MAGA would just march all over Dominion (and Hugo Chavez, oddly) for the greater good of making America great again, somehow.  Plan A failed miserably, I guess.  

It may not drive Trump out of business, either.  But it's another nail in his coffin.  Some poll said that after Tucker and Sean's private texts were released, maybe something like 1 in 10 Americans who believed the Big Lie about election 2020 stopped believing it.  Maybe.  I'll stick with the Maria Shriver analogy.  It won't drive Fox out of business.  But many people who watch Fox now know that Tucker and Sean cheated on them. 

And they seemed like such nice, honest fellas!

 

[alvnv]

Fox resolves Dominion case, but a bigger election defamation lawsuit looms

(Reuters) - Fox News on Tuesday disposed of one legal threat with its $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, but the network still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from another voting technology company over its coverage of debunked election-rigging claims.

Dominion accused Fox and its parent company Fox Corp of ruining its business by airing claims that its machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against then-president Donald Trump, a Republican.

Fox and its parent company Fox Corp averted a six-week trial in Delaware Superior Court with the deal, which is half of the $1.6 billion Dominion sought but still by far the largest ever defamation settlement publicly announced by an American media company, according to legal experts.

Fox, one of the most influential cable networks in the world and home to many conservative commentators, acknowledged in a statement Tuesday that the judge found “certain claims about Dominion to be false” and said it hopes the deal helps the country “move forward with these issues.”

But Fox’s lawyers will stay busy navigating the legal fallout of the network’s 2020 election coverage with a potentially far more damaging defamation lawsuit by voting technology company Smartmatic, as well as a separate but related lawsuit by a recently fired producer.

Fox representatives referred Reuters to prior statements on the cases. The network has firmly denied the allegations in both cases.

It is unclear if Fox’s deal with Dominion indicates it is willing to settle with Smartmatic, but experts who are not part of the litigation suggested it could help kickstart talks.

“Smartmatic now has a bargaining chip, and Fox has shown it is willing to take out its checkbook and write a big check,” said University of Tennessee, Knoxville media law professor Stuart Brotman. “From Fox’s standpoint, now that they realize they can get a successful settlement, they have a basis for a real discussion with Smartmatic.”

Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox and five individuals, including former Trump lawyers and hosts.

Smartmatic alleges in its lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court that the defendants knowingly spread false claims that its software was used to flip votes. Conspiracy theorists erroneously claimed Smartmatic owned Dominion, and the companies mounted similar allegations in their lawsuits.

Smartmatic attorney J. Erik Connolly said in a statement Tuesday the company is committed to clearing its name, recouping the damage done to it and “holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy.”

Fox denies the allegations, saying in a recent statement the network had a right to report on highly newsworthy allegations of voter fraud. It has also called Smartmatic’s damages claims “outrageous, unsupported, and not rooted in sound financial analysis.”

Fox was recently dealt a setback in the case after an appeals court declined to toss it, finding Smartmatic alleged in “detailed fashion” how Fox “effectively endorsed and participated” in defamation.

Meanwhile, Fox has given no public indication that it is interested in settling the lawsuit by the former producer, Abby Grossberg, whose lawyers said in a statement Tuesday they are seeking “meaningful institutional changes at Fox News.”

Any such changes were absent from the public announcement of the Dominion settlement and could potentially be a major sticking point in any negotiations, legal experts said.

Grossberg alleges she was exposed to sexism at Fox and unjustly fired after she objected to what she claims were efforts to pressure her into giving misleading testimony in the Dominion case.

Fox has said the allegations are “baseless” and were immediately investigated by outside lawyers. The network also says it will “vigorously” defend itself against all of Grossberg’s claims.

Reporting by Jack Queen; editing by Amy Stevens and Lincoln Feast

[Mavica]

10 hours ago, Suckrates said:

Now, they have no incentive to stop lying.    Money dosent seem to scare them.   And there are a bunch of independents watching Fox who might have been swayed if the newscasters were forced to admit they Lied....    As you say, the MAGA lunatics will never be affected by any negativity Fox receives for its behaviors. 

I sense you're projecting your goals rather than understanding what Dominion's civil lawsuit goals were vs. FOX.  Dominion got what it sought.  Period.

Dominion and others claiming defamation and harm to their financial interests have filed civil actions against other "news" organizations and individusls.  FOX faces at least one similar lawsuit.

Nobody can convince me that an "Independent" voter watches FOX.  FOX viewers are hard-core partisans; extremist in their anti-America beliefs.

Dominion won.  The pre-trial discovery documents prove the lack of honesty and integrity of the entire FOX organization.  I get the feeling you're attempting to snatch failure from the jaws of victory.

Let it go.  Move on to the next issue bothering you.  

[Suckrates]

While @Mavica points out that I am bothered by many things,  and rightly so, since our govt is so incredible flawed and corrupt politicians are living off our "dime",  it just would have been so incredibly entertaining to watch Tucker and the other Fox hosts squirm while telling their fans that they are LIARS and they intentionally duped them to get them to keep watching the show.   Even Jeannine Piro "screaming" that at the camera would have been a must-see moment. 

But as long as @Mavica is pleased with the outcome,  thats all that really matters.  😏👎

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, Mavica said:

Nobody can convince me that an "Independent" voter watches FOX.  FOX viewers are hard-core partisans; extremist in their anti-America beliefs.

I wouldn't be so sure.

21% of Fox News Viewers Trust Network Less After Texts Revealed in Dominion Lawsuit: Survey

VIP+ Analysis: Exclusive data reveals how private messages from Carlson, Murdoch impacted audience opinions about election fraud.

I briefly referenced and hyperlinked that poll in a post above.  But in this post I'll focus on it.

There's a few interesting things in there.  As the headline says, presumably 1 in 5 Fox viewers trust what Fox says less thanks to Tucker's cheating on his viewers. 

It's also interesting that, whereas a plurality of 42 % of all adults don't trust Fox (compared to 16 % of all adults who do), even 10 % of Fox viewers say they don't trust Fox.  I can buy that.  I would not call myself a regular Fox News viewer.  But when something big happens, like Trump's indictment or any big election, I watch the opinion talking heads like Tucker and Sean and Laura enough to get the Murdoch spin.  Even though I don't trust it.  And then some of them, like Brett Baier, I think are just good reporters who I'd watch anyway.

It helps me that I have several family members who are moderate to hard core Trump supporters.  At least one of whom is also a pretty devoted Tucker fan, as far as I can tell.  What's helpful is that instead of stereotyping "these people" as ignorant fanatics,  I can think of it in terms of, for example, a niece I love.  Far from being ignorant, she's a well educated corporate executive.  That said, it surprised me that in addition to calling Gov. DeWine, a RINO, she did not know he was running for re-election last year.  Which was interesting, since she lives in Ohio.  If I were her, I'd like Republican Governors like DeWine or Kasich.  They governed well enough, and reached to the center enough, to win re-election in landslides.  It fits with this MO that several times I sang the praises of Tim Scott as the kind of Black conservative Republican who could build a winning Presidential coalition based on a sunny Reaganite message, I think.  Her reply, several times, has been "What do you think of Candace Owens?"

So, on the one hand, the vibe I get is that she likes Tucker and Candace because she likes in your face flame throwers who take on left wing "pussies."  (Her word, not mine.)  But I know she's a critical thinker.  And I'm pretty sure she would notice that what Tucker says in private makes him seem like a hypocrite, in it for the power or money or ego. Once in a while - like when her more conservative hubby suggests they have to get completely out of their mutual fund because the Biden Crime Family is going to force mutual funds to invest in red China - she openly expresses doubt about what I personally view as some of the nuttier right wing ideas flying around social media.  Which her hubby consistently works himself into a lather about.  So my guess is she'd be a candidate to be in the 21 % who feels less trusting after finding out about Tucker cheating on her.  Not that Tucker isn't a great guy, and all.

What I find most helpful about these kinds of personal interactions, which I am fully aware I am interpreting based on my own liberal biases, is that it helps explain why 2024 is likely going to be a shit show for Republicans.  I think she probably is like a lot of Fox News viewers.  She seems to be less interested in what a DeWine or Kasich might do to engineer a Republican landslide in a state like Ohio.  And more interested in how Fox owns libs, and fights pussies.  Not to mention the Biden Crime Family.  It's probably a recipe for Republicans losing more seats they could win in 2024, just like in 2022 and 2020.  And Fox and Tucker are in large part the architects of that.  Even if it because they have to suck Trump's cock, which Tucker turns out to hate passionately.  Poor guy.

Which makes you wonder whether Murdoch is the horse, or the cart being led by what he has to do to keep appeasing his viewers.  Either way, I wouldn't bet on that horse to win.

[alvnv]

20 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

She seems to be less interested in what a DeWine or Kasich might do to engineer a Republican landslide in a state like Ohio.  And more interested in how Fox owns libs, and fights pussies.

Seems to me that their fuel is hate, not love. They hate their opponents more than they love themselves and their supporters. Sad!

[stevenkesslar]

40 minutes ago, alvnv said:

Seems to me that their fuel is hate, not love. They hate their opponents more than they love themselves and their supporters. Sad!

I think the fuel is more like anger and outrage, as opposed to hate.  It has been pretty well documented that outrage and anger leads to more clicks for Facebook, and more viewers for Fox.  Facebook and Fox are both good at building indignation. 

So it's kind of sad, and kind of funny.  Part of my point is that my niece and I have a loving relationship.  So I think there is some limit to how far even Fox and Facebook can push  outrage.   I think for most people it stops well short of hate, thankfully.  They do have to make you feel justified in your outrage.  My niece does feel like, as a conservative, she is in the Silent Majority.  Which is perhaps true in Ohio.  But that's thanks to Republicans like DeWine and Kasich, not Carlson and Hannity, who are pushing moderation and at least trying to get along together.

The funny part, to me, is that while it may work well for Facebook and Fox, it's not really a plan to win a majority.  Let alone be able to govern as a majority.  I cited Democrat Joe Trippi above, who noted that the contrast plays well for Biden and Democrats.  At least so far.  If we are in the middle of a recession in November 2024, that could be the kind of thing that would lead a majority to vote for a restoration of the drama and lies.  Hoping that at least they get the economy of 2019 back in the deal.  (Did I mention the unemployment rate is lower now than under Trump's best month, and child poverty hit unprecedented lows in 2021 thanks to Biden's child tax credit?) More likely, the majority will vote for normal and boring in 2024, just like in 2020 and 2022.

1 hour ago, Suckrates said:

it just would have been so incredibly entertaining to watch Tucker and the other Fox hosts squirm while telling their fans that they are LIARS and they intentionally duped them to get them to keep watching the show.

I feel for you, my beloved and better Sister In Cock.  You have always liked it raw and hard and in your face.  Let's face facts.  I've always been the more delicate flower.  I need it to be given to me subtly, rather than shoved down my throat.

I wish I could somehow enable you to feel the subtle orgasmic joy I feel when I watch Tucker on TV, elegantly playing the role of a doofus.  

 

[Marc in Calif]

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)

Reeling from its punishing settlement agreement with Dominion Voting Systems, a newly cash-strapped Fox News Channel has been forced to sell Representative Kevin McCarthy.

Rupert Murdoch, who acquired the Speaker of the House just two months ago, expressed sadness that new financial realities had necessitated the sale.

“I wish Kevin well,” the Fox owner said. “I hope whoever buys him finds as much use for him as I did.”

Even as many in Washington expressed skepticism about the House Speaker’s market value, Murdoch’s plans to sell McCarthy faced a significant roadblock in the form of the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“I have no idea why Fox thinks they can sell Kevin McCarthy,” she told reporters. “I own Kevin.”

[forky123]

43 minutes ago, Marc in Calif said:

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)

Reeling from its punishing settlement agreement with Dominion Voting Systems, a newly cash-strapped Fox News Channel has been forced to sell Representative Kevin McCarthy.

Rupert Murdoch, who acquired the Speaker of the House just two months ago, expressed sadness that new financial realities had necessitated the sale.

“I wish Kevin well,” the Fox owner said. “I hope whoever buys him finds as much use for him as I did.”

Even as many in Washington expressed skepticism about the House Speaker’s market value, Murdoch’s plans to sell McCarthy faced a significant roadblock in the form of the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“I have no idea why Fox thinks they can sell Kevin McCarthy,” she told reporters. “I own Kevin.”

Come now. McCarthy barely costs anything. His main job as Trump's fluffer puts most people off buying him. 

[Suckrates]

 

Fox News pulls in $2.79 billion per year,  so the Dominion hit will be made made within a years time.... No biggie for Fox, and no incentive for them to stop lying to their viewers.    How perfectly humiliating it would have been to have their anchors "grovel" to America and admit the TRUTH ?      For me, an admission of falsehood by Fox for the countries perception would have far superseded  the financial win for Dominion,  but I suppose to Dominion the $$was the greater of the victories and benefited them most ?  

I dont think this was a learning experience for Fox ?    they can continue their lying and misinformation campaigns, and every few years they will have to write a check to someone.... No big whoop to continue running a successful and highly profitable business of SHAM......    Their base wants to hears lies and Fox is more than beholding to provide them with those.  

Lets see if Smartmatic caves before the party gets started ?   My instinct is they will also settle before a trial. 

[forky123]

You are assuming lots of things that were not certain. A jury trial is always a lottery.

[stevenkesslar]

I know I'm on a rant.  But it's fun to make fun of Tucker Carlson.

In fairness, let me now take on Jon Stewart for a bit.  There's been a few thoughtful "be careful what you ask for"  pieces about Stewart's legendary Tucker take down.  This Politico article is the most explicit about the point. It argues Stewart was wrong.  In retrospect, even if it was crappy respectful political debate, at least with Crossfire we had respectful political debate.  Until Stewart called Tucker a dick on TV.  (Tucker does look like a dick, of course.  But that's only after Stewart branded him as such.)

But this Atlantic article, which is more a reflection on why Stewart is well past his expiration date, has a great one paragraph explanation of why Stewart was wrong:

Quote

An honest accounting of how America swerved so unexpectedly requires skipping back in time to that 2004 episode of Crossfire. Was it really a moment of triumph for Jon Stewart? Or was it actually a turning point for the other side? Perhaps what people thought they were watching—Tucker, self-immolating—was in fact the origin story of Tucker Carlson 2.0, the one who’s currently hurting America with a nimbler and far more ruthless brand of demagoguery than he was peddling two decades ago. Humiliation is a powerful motivator. In the same way that Obama’s roasting of Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner supposedly drove Trump to run for president out of spite, Stewart’s prime-time dismantling of Carlson seemed to have unleashed something in the bow-tied menace. He looked like he felt betrayed by the way Stewart revealed the kayfabe with everyone watching. Didn’t he understand that this was all just theater? How dare he pretend he wasn’t playing the same game?

With all due respect to Barack Obama and Jon Stewart, I think it's too simple to blame either of them for creating conservative rage and drama.  Even if they both did make two of the nicest conservatives in America look like total dicks in public.  Trump and Carlson created themselves on their own.

That said, you can also blame both of them on the right wing cesspool they were forced to simmer in for, well, decades. 

There's the time Tucker actually defended both The New York Times, and facts, at CPAC.  Defending one of the two might have been forgivable.  Defending truth and The Times?  That's unforgivable.  It's quant, in retrospect, that the audience merely scolded him.  If they had that CPAC meeting today, in Florida, some sensible conservative with an AR-15 would have simply taken out Tucker's brain and spleen.  You can now do that kind of thing, pretty much legally, in Ron's Florida.  Just don't get raped and try not to have a baby.  This is what decades of Tucker, with four years of Trumpism slathered all over it, have brought us to.

What's my point?  I think this is the official heads up that Tucker has reached his expiration date, too.  Like Jon Stewart, he can and will still talk.  I adored Stewart, and watched him daily, and laughed.  I still do.  People will watch Tucker and get outraged about the pussies and the Biden Crime Family running America.  But it won't be the same.  They really will all know that Tucker cheated on them.  

At least Jon Stewart didn't cheat on me.  He gave birth to Trevor Noah, who I loved just as much.  Even if both, in their own ways, helped put more nails in the coffin of respectful political debate.

[Pete1111]

Though smaller potatoes 

I'm looking forward to the Rudy & Sydney Show 

 

[TotallyOz]

On 4/19/2023 at 7:59 PM, Mavica said:

Nobody can convince me that an "Independent" voter watches FOX.  FOX viewers are hard-core partisans; extremist in their anti-America beliefs.

I tend to agree. I don't see their viewers as independent either. And, can't be convinced otherwise.

[Suckrates]

1 minute ago, TotallyOz said:

I tend to agree. I don't see their viewers as independent either. And, can't be convinced otherwise.

Perhaps they wouldnt see it on FOX,  but they sure as hell would see it in some other media they access.   Those groveling pics and statements would be all over the airwaves,  so the mission would still be accomplished. 

[alvnv]

1 hour ago, Pete1111 said:

Though smaller potatoes 

I'm looking forward to the Rudy & Sydney Show 

 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRTYqP1b/
 

[stevenkesslar]

On 4/18/2023 at 3:16 PM, Mavica said:

Nothing is going to change the minds of FOX viewers, or Mr. Trump's supporters.

 

On 4/19/2023 at 5:59 AM, Mavica said:

Nobody can convince me that an "Independent" voter watches FOX.  FOX viewers are hard-core partisans; extremist in their anti-America beliefs.

 

7 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

I tend to agree. I don't see their viewers as independent either. And, can't be convinced otherwise.

 

 So to the degree that we actually have facts about this, they are interesting.   Both good news and bad news.  The good news is that the studies that have been done suggest lots of independent thinkers watch Fox.  And it actually does change their mind, and the way they vote.  The bad news, speaking as a partisan Democrat, is that Fox is particularly good at persuading viewers to vote Republican.

A stunning new study shows that Fox News is more powerful than we ever imagined

Quote

“Fox is substantially better at influencing Democrats than MSNBC is at influencing Republicans," the authors find. While most Fox viewers are Republican, a sizable minority aren't, and they're particularly suggestible to the channel's influence. In 2000, they estimate that 58 percent of Fox viewers who were initially Democrats changed to supporting the Republican candidate by the end of the election cycle; in 2004, the persuasion rate was 27 percent, and 28 percent in 2008. MSNBC, by contrast, only persuaded 8 percent of initial Republicans to vote Democratic in the 2008 cycle.

Quote

"Our estimates imply that Fox News convinced 3 to 28 percent of its viewers to vote Republican, depending on the audience measure," economists Stefano DellaVigna (Berkeley) and Ethan Kaplan (Maryland) found in a seminal 2007 paper.

So I'll say this.  That long Vox article refers to various studies.  And it has the feel of throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.  I'd take all of it with a grain of salt.  I don't believe, for example, that but for Fox News John Kerry would have won in 2004.  And Barack Obama would have gotten 60 % of the vote in 2008.  That seems like a huge stretch to me, based on estimates by academics.

That said, I definitely buy the idea that Fox News manages over time to turn people who mostly vote Democratic into people who mostly vote Republican.  It is an effective ideological machine, as the author and studies document.  So then it depends on what the meaning of "independent" is.  By definition, if you are persuading voters to switch from supporting Democrats to Republicans, those voters are at least somewhat independent thinkers.  Then again, if they are switching because they are being subjected to constant lies and ideological ranting, maybe they are not so independent.

Further complicating matters is there is (or was) the Fox News of Shep Smith.  Leftie Bernie and Good Gay Guy Mayor Pete made a point to do town halls with Fox News in 2020, since they insisted they had good arguments to make to Fox News viewers.  Which they did have, and did make.  I watched the town halls run by Brett and Martha and I thought they were really well done.  So the Fox News of Shep, Brett, Martha and (used to be) Chris Wallace is NOT the Fox News of Tucker, Sean, and Laura.

Even though these studies sound to me like they go too far, I do buy the basic idea.  I think it is pretty plain and clear.  While most Fox viewers are solid Republicans, not all are.  And, over a period of time, Fox has been able to move the dial by relentlessly subjecting those "independent" viewers to "facts" slanted very heavily with conservative ideology.  To the point where you can question whether they are even "facts" at all. 

That said, as a viewer of CNN and MSNBC, I would argue - as the studies do - that they do the same thing.  Just not as effectively.  That chart that shows Fox going hard right while NSNBC went hard left for over a decade does help to explain the growing ideological divide in America.  We all tend to believe what we hear in the ideological silo we choose to live in.  Where's Walter Cronkite when you need him?

To bring it back to the BIG LIE, all of this has to be bad news for the folks at Bullshit Mountain, as Jon Stewart called it.  If anything at all in these studies is correct, it has to be based on the idea that somewhat independent viewers can actually trust Fox News to be "fair and balanced."  We now know that Sean and Tucker are cheating lovers who tell you one thing to woo you, and then dump you like a stupid whore when they privately text each other.  It's just very bad news for the lying whores who lost.  They get rich and powerful sucking Donald Trump's gross and nasty cock, even though they have now said they hate it passionately.  Even Stormy Daniels wouldn't do that.

Sorry, Tucker.  You're still a great guy and all.

[forky123]

So, I heard today that Fox won’t be footing this $787.5 million bill, the US tax payer will since Fox can write this money off against their taxes. 

[Suckrates]

It was reported that part of the settlement negotiation was that Fox anchors would definitely do any apologies , on-air or otherwise.   In other words all the people that were voluntarily complicit would not have to admit any wrong-doing,  and THAT I believe was the lynch-pin of the case ?

Now they can continue their on-air smear and disinformation campaigns without any fear of accountibility, as long as Fox continues to be willing to put up enough money to keep them, and the network safe. 

[unicorn]

2 hours ago, forky123 said:

So, I heard today that Fox won’t be footing this $787.5 million bill, the US tax payer will since Fox can write this money off against their taxes. 

Any lawyers here know if that's true? I find that difficult to believe.