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The Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News settlement was a smart move … for Dominion.
By any standard, $787.5 million is a lot of money. It is the largest publicly known defamation settlement involving a media company in the United States. Fox News has never come close to paying that amount before in any kind of litigation.
One cannot fault Dominion for ultimately making what was a business decision to achieve finality in this high-stakes litigation.
Dominion said it had suffered greatly as a result of Fox broadcasting false claims that the voting technology company tried to rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump. The settlement may not have been for $1.6 billion, as Dominion initially sought, but it was Dominion’s decision, as a business, to settle for “just” $787.5 million. And no one should make short shrift of this outcome just because so many Americans wanted to see this trial go all the way to a jury verdict — to see Fox suffer more accountability for its damaging conduct.
But the lawsuit wasn’t brought by all Americans harmed by Fox News’ lies and deceit. It was brought by Dominion in an attempt to right the wrongs that were specific to Dominion. In a David vs. Goliath move, Dominion sued a media titan and, in part through exceptional lawyering, successfully exposed Fox News’ hypocrisy, recklessness and prioritization of profits over truth.
As a part of the settlement, Fox issued a statement specifically stating: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” Many are disappointed that the settlement terms apparently didn’t require Fox to admit full liability or issue an on-air correction. After all, Dominion’s legal team declared Tuesday that “truth matters” and called the settlement a “ringing endorsement for truth and for democracy.”
Keep in mind the bigger picture of what Dominion was able to accomplish for America as it pursued its…
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