The mainstream news media, including the NYT, WSJ, WaPo, etc., frequently print stories that are highly critical of particular corporations, often accusing them of things like misleading advertising. (Think about tobacco companies, or drug companies that produce opioids.)
Yes, they could be sued for libel, but they continue to print these stories because they believe the stories are true.
Other news organizations like Fox News put out stories that they know are a pack of lies. They do so because that’s what their viewers want to see. They want to see their nutty conspiracy theories confirmed by their favorite news pundits.
Yes, they can be sued for libel. But Fox News knows that it has the option of having its news people do a groveling apology, where they admit that they were lying, if the company objects to the story.
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs aired a segment on Friday that amounted to a fact-checking refutation of claims that he and guests have made about an election tech company Smartmatic and its role in the 2020 presidential election, after the company threatened legal action.
Other similar segments will be shown on Justice with Judge Jeanine on Saturday and Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, a Fox News spokesperson said. Lisa Boothe will host Judge Jeanine, as Jeanine Pirro is off for the holidays
Earlier this week, Smartmatic announced that it had threatened legal action against Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network “for publishing false and defamatory statements,” after talking heads on the outlets have pushed claims of election fraud, including unfounded conspiracy theories of rigged voting machine companies.
Love it!!
This reminds me of the Trump legal team. Trump’s associates make wild voter fraud charges when speaking to the public. (“Baseless” in media-speak.) But when speaking to a judge, his legal team claims to have no such evidence. They are afraid of the consequences of lying in court.
PS. I hate to say “I told you so”, but haven’t I been warning that Russia is the biggest foreign policy threat? Despite Trump’s pathetic attempt to implicate China, it was probably Russia that launched the recent cyberattack on the US government.
PPS. Actually, I love to say “I told you so.”