The First Amendment protects journalists' private communications. Fox has an awful lot of money to keep throwing at this, to keep funding appeals and more attorneys. The cases against a major media organization like Fox are so hard to win because they have endless virtually endless resourcesto keep throwing at the problem. There needs to be some type of cost for perpetuating lies that not only hurt a company, but hurt the fabric of American democracy.
What’s one way to stop misinformation? It might just be a giant defamation lawsuit. This week, media titan Rupert Murdoch was deposed in a $1.6 billion suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News and Fox Corporation. They allege Fox knowingly and maliciously aired baseless claims accusing Dominion of an election fraud conspiracy. Somewhat surprisingly, instead of settling out of court, Fox News is denying the allegations, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in April. To unpack the lawsuit and the revelations it has brought (and will continue to bring) to light, we turned to New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters, who says this could be “one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.”
He breaks down the case, the souring Murdoch-Trump alliance and Fox News’s future. Plus, we review Ron DeSantis’s chances in 2024 (outlook: not good) and Ben Shapiro and Elon Musk’s chances of one day besting Murdoch (outlook: somewhat better).
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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