media matters

[DocBarrister]

The court filing today against Fox News is absolutely damning. Turns out that “Faux News” really is the most accurate description for the callously dishonest and propagandistic organization.

I’m not going to post an excerpt because the article needs to be read in its entirety.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/media/fo ... index.html

DocBarrister

[DocBarrister]

So … Faux News knew what all honest people have known:

Donald Trump is a servant of Satan

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/20 ... nion-suit/

DocBarrister

[Farfromgeneva]

The court filing today against Fox News is absolutely damning. Turns out that “Faux News” really is the most accurate description for the callously dishonest and propagandistic organization.

I’m not going to post an excerpt because the article needs to be read in its entirety.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/media/fo ... index.html

DocBarrister

I like the North Koreans do a more nuanced job than Lou Dobbs!

The court filing also revealed that Fox News executives had criticized some of the network’s top talent behind the scenes. Jay Wallace, the network president, said that “the North Koreans” did a “more nuanced show” than then-host Lou Dobbs. Jerry Andrews, the executive producer of “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” referred to host Jeanine Pirro as “nuts.”

[Seacoaster(1)]

Here is Dominion's Memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment on liability:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/ ... f/full.pdf

The fact section on Newsmax capitalizing on the Fox call on Arizona, Fox's effort to fight back for viewers through support of the Big Lie and defamation of Dominion, even when they knew is was false and crazy.

But here's what they did, even when they knew the information they were getting was false:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1626387262274428928

[njbill]

Has the Delaware state court previously ruled that under its conflicts principles, New York State law applies to the defamation claim? I didn’t read all 192 pages of the brief (glad to be retired, thank you), but it seems so. I would’ve thought they would have dropped a footnote or made some mention of the prior conflicts ruling, assuming that is what happened.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Has the Delaware state court previously ruled that under its conflicts principles, New York State law applies to the defamation claim? I didn’t read all 192 pages of the brief (glad to be retired, thank you), but it seems so. I would’ve thought they would have dropped a footnote or made some mention of the prior conflicts ruling, assuming that is what happened.

Yeah, I think Fox, based in NY, convinced the Court that the governing law should be NY, and this is because of the NY Anti-SLAPP law, which was amended pretty recently to protect media companies. The statute makes substantive changes to defamation law and provides for mandatory fee shifting (see N.Y. C.L.S. Civ. R. §§ 70-a, 76-a). The statute shifts the burden at dismissal to Plaintiffs/Dominion and requires them to demonstrate “a substantial basis in law for the claims asserted.” N.Y. CPLR 3211(g)(1). In addition, the statute allows the Court to consider of supporting and opposing affidavits, and effectively allows for a summary judgment type standard on a motion to dismiss. Presumably two things happened: (1) Fox and Friends made and did not prevail on the Motion to Dismiss (and the case has moved on to proper, post-discovery MSJ practice, and (2) the parties effectively agreed that NY law would apply.

It seems that the issue plainly is not falsity; that appears to be nearly stipulated. The issue is whether or not Fox's and the Talking Head Defendants (Pirro, Dobbs, etc.) acted with actual malice and reckless disregard of the truth. It seems like, against this steep and difficult standard, Dominion has a chance on liability.

[njbill]

Thanks. Interesting and helpful. Certainly makes sense that New York substantive law would apply.

As an old drafter of briefs, though, I would have at least dropped a footnote citing the court’s prior choice of law ruling or the parties’ agreement in that regard. Small nit.

[njbill]

This has now gotten me wondering why the plaintiffs filed in Delaware. Do you think it was because they were concerned Fox and Murdoch may have too much power in the New York Court system? Even though Fox et al. are conservative and New York is liberal, they still have a very powerful media presence.

[Farfromgeneva]

Now I know Jeff Bezos is on crack and has infected the WaPo the way fungus has in this new HBO show w Pedro Pascal

https://www.mpnnow.com/story/news/local ... fzcercppvq

Insane in the membrane

[old salt]

Here is Dominion's Memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment on liability:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/ ... f/full.pdf

The fact section on Newsmax capitalizing on the Fox call on Arizona, Fox's effort to fight back for viewers through support of the Big Lie and defamation of Dominion, even when they knew is was false and crazy.

But here's what they did, even when they knew the information they were getting was false:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1626387262274428928

This is really bad for Fox. I recall on election night, when Fox called AZ for Biden, I knew it was over & went to bed. I respected Fox for being the first to make a call that would disappoint their audience.

I don't know if Fox can win the defamation case, but I'm surprised they didn't try to settle the suit to keep all this evidence from coming out.
I note that some straight shooters are still there at Fox -- Baer, Cavuto, Hume, Heinrich, Griffin, McCallum, Bream, Faulkner, Tomlison, Yingst & others. I hope this prompts some changes.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Here is Dominion's Memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment on liability:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/ ... f/full.pdf

The fact section on Newsmax capitalizing on the Fox call on Arizona, Fox's effort to fight back for viewers through support of the Big Lie and defamation of Dominion, even when they knew is was false and crazy.

But here's what they did, even when they knew the information they were getting was false:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1626387262274428928

This is really bad for Fox. I recall on election night, when Fox called AZ for Biden, I knew it was over & went to bed. I respected Fox for being the first to make a call that would disappoint their audience.

I don't know if Fox can win the defamation case, but I'm surprised they didn't try to settle the suit to keep all this evidence from coming out.
I note that some straight shooters are still there at Fox -- Baer, Cavuto, Hume, Heinrich, Griffin, McCallum, Bream, Faulkner, Tomlison, Yingst & others. I hope this prompts some changes.

Fox allowed it to happen, encouraged the Big Lie by bringing Powell and Giuliani on, and made it worse by Dobbs's and Bartiromo's echoing of the Big Lie and the totally unsubstantiated Dominion conspiracies. And now we know that it was done entirely in bad faith, with real knowledge that the company was providing a platform for falsehood -- all for ratings and to protect the business model. If the "straight shooters" were actually straight and real journalists, they would leave. The damage done to Dominion will be calculated, and I would guess that it'll be considerably less than $1.6 billion. The damage done to the country and confidence in basic institutions -- again, all for ratings and the need to prostrate the company at the alter of Trump and his lies -- is impossible to calculate.

Excerpt from the Post article this AM:

"Collegiality followed journalistic principles out the window on Nov. 12, when reporter Jacqui Heinrich tweeted out a fact check of Trump, who had cited reporting by Hannity and Dobbs (whose eponymous Fox program was canceled in 2021) and mentioned Dominion. Election officials, Heinrich pointed out, claim there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” Having spotted Heinrich’s tweet, Carlson told Hannity via text, “Please get her fired. Seriously….What the f---? I’m actually shocked … It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Hannity took his concerns to Scott, who apprised other colleagues: “Sean texted me—he’s standing down on responding but not happy about this and doesn’t understand how this is allowed to happen from anyone in news. She [Heinrich] has serious nerve doing this and if this gets picked up, viewers are going to be further disgusted.”

Think about that statement — the top official at Fox News choosing falsehood over fact, for the sake of ratings. Fox News viewers, the correspondence confirms, get “disgusted” when their favorite network stops feeding them conspiracy theories."

[Kismet]

Watch Bill Maher's show last night (available on Youtube) - a very insightful discussion about modern media between him, Sarah Isgur and Ari Melber.

[Farfromgeneva]

Watch Bill Maher's show last night (available on Youtube - a very insightful discussion about modern media between him, Sarah Isgur and Ari Melber.

Do you care for Isgur? I see her on the ThisWeek (formerly w David Brinkley and Sam Donaldson and nominally George Stephanopolous show now) and she seems shaky and very biased/unbalanced.

[Kismet]

She's okay. Conservative. Not a bomb thrower. The Cracker Barrel discussion tells you a lot. Melber, as usual, is money.

[Farfromgeneva]

She's okay. Conservative. Not a bomb thrower. The Cracker Barrel discussion tells you a lot. Melber, as usual, is money.

Agreed she’s civil and agreeable in a discussion but her framing of narratives leaves a lot to be desired. I’m probably not her intended audience either though.

[njbill]

She's okay. Conservative. Not a bomb thrower. The Cracker Barrel discussion tells you a lot. Melber, as usual, is money.

Agree about the Cracker Barrel discussion. Loved it that Bill didn’t even know what Cracker Barrel is.

Ate at one of them once. Pretty mediocre food. If I want mediocre food, I’ll stay home and cook for myself.

She’s a member of the Federalist Society and is married to a lawyer defending Fox News. Tells you about all you need to know.

[Farfromgeneva]

She's okay. Conservative. Not a bomb thrower. The Cracker Barrel discussion tells you a lot. Melber, as usual, is money.

Agree about the Cracker Barrel discussion. Loved it that Bill didn’t even know what Cracker Barrel is.

Ate at one of them once. Pretty mediocre food. If I want mediocre food, I’ll stay home and cook for myself.

She’s a member of the Federalist Society and is married to a lawyer defending Fox News. Tells you about all you need to know.

Wife and kids had it the other night coming back form a Funeral in SC. Kids loved it, wife goes “forgot everything is butter + food” on the menu.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Like I called it….Propaganda. Never had a news organization operated the way FoxNews did during the Trump administration…. Yeah “they all do it”….is just plain Bullsh$t

[a fan]

Like I called it….Propaganda. Never had a news organization operated the way FoxNews did during the Trump administration…. Yeah “they all do it”….is just plain Bullsh$t

Yep. It's REALLY bad. Killing our country.

I HATE that Americans....and even posters here......pretend like Fox isn't MSM. And NEVER hit Fox for this sh9t. ONLY CNN is bad, without one word about massive damage Fox is doing to actual, real, honest conservatives.

Said it a million times-----Fox is pro-Republican. Which has NOTHING to do with actual conservative values and governance.

[Kismet]

Like I called it….Propaganda. Never had a news organization operated the way FoxNews did during the Trump administration…. Yeah “they all do it”….is just plain Bullsh$t

Yep. It's REALLY bad. Killing our country.

I HATE that Americans....and even posters here......pretend like Fox isn't MSM. And NEVER hit Fox for this sh9t. ONLY CNN is bad, without one word about massive damage Fox is doing to actual, real, honest conservatives.

Said it a million times-----Fox is pro-Republican. Which has NOTHING to do with actual conservative values and governance.

The real truth is that doing what is good for business (max audience) always takes precedence over truthful information. The telling text in this case - "look what it's doing to the stock price" - Faux News is not the only player operating on this model.

It's not truth that counts but material that brings audience which brings cash.

The folks who wrote the First Amendment for the press never thought of this -