Seeing a lot of handwriting about how the #Dominion #Fox settlement means 'Fox is never gonna have to admit they lied' and 'well, this didn't help democracy at all!'.
And all I can think is...were either of those ever REALLY on the table, even with a trial and verdict? I really don't see that.
Let's say--and it was never a given--that Dominion got a favorable verdict at trial. They get damages of some amount, sure. Does the judge order Fox to issue retractions on-air and all that jazz?
1/
Hell, is that a thing a judge COULD order? (Obligatory NAL, but that feels compelled-speechy to me). I'm skeptical on that. Maybe #Fox has to memory-hole old articles and stuff, but maybe that'd be about it.
But let's make a fun assumption, that #Dominion wins and gets a judgement ordering Fox and hosts to go on air and say they lied.
They're not changing anyone's mind. "They were forced to say it", they'll cry. "Those damn judges in Biden's home state, they did this for him!"
2/
Even absent an order like that, a huge money verdict won't fare any better with those in an alternate reality. The judge, or the jury, or the jury pool, someone was biased. Or the law was wrong. Or this. Or that.
And the appeals will prove them right dammit, or they'll later, rinse, repeat (as needed).
We know this because that happened with all of the damn election lawsuits. It was always a technicality, or bad judges, or appeals will fix it, anything BUT it being a lost cause.
3/
So, even in the best case scenario--the fabulists get their entire wish list, #Dominion now owns Fox and Tucker Carlson is going out there apologizing to the public once every hour while a Dominion tabulator administers electric shocks to him--the people living in another reality are gonna stay there. They were always gonna stay there.
With the settlement in place, they're still there. And that's probably the best you can get in that regard. A loss, or no verdict at all?
4/
Those people feel vindicated, get louder. And with a jury? There's always a chance that happens.
And if the trial took the whole 6 weeks, jeez...a hung jury wouldn't surprise me. That's a lot of evidence and testimony to have to keep straight and weigh and all that.
In any case, we may not be any better off today than we were yesterday...but I think worse outcomes were possible and this was probably the best of the possible ones.
End/
Michael S