Mastodawn

Ken White Apr 19, 2023

Serious Trouble episode (with a re-recorded section after settlement) about Dominion dropping today. We didn’t talk about:
* No trial result would have had the judge ordering Fox to apologize on air
*No trial result would have resulted in Fox being punished for damage to democracy
*. No trial result could have ”established facts” as true or false for all purposes in America
If your expectations for the legal system are not reality-based you’re going to be consistently disappointed.

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Zoomer Antimillenarian Apr 19, 2023

@Popehat There's a certain kind of progressive for whom having trial deliberations livestreamed on Maddow is "accountability" but having to pay nearly $800M isn't.

People should celebrate! Fox just lost 6 mo net revenue in a high-interest-rate economy! And since they can't stop *lying*, now and then they're gonna risk having this mess repeat all over again when they've gotta step over the line *again* to keep the viewers loyal.

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Jake

Apr 19, 2023

@surcomplicated
If nothing changes then what is there to celebrate? Money went from one multimillion dollar corporation to another. I no more celebrate that then celebrate McDonald's buying their yearly allotment of beef.

Arguably the only thing Fox will have learned is where the line is so they can edge right up to it without crossing in the future. So don't expect anymore payouts like this.

As for Dominion, yay. Another private equity firm (Staple Street) got a payday. I do love seeing rich people get richer.
@Popehat

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Zoomer Antimillenarian Apr 19, 2023

@affekt @Popehat $787.5M is going to change things. Maybe not at *Fox* all that much, but I'm willing to bet investors in the GOP Entertainment Wing business community are going to get cold feet after all the tribulations Fox, Newsmax, OAN, and Alex Jones have got themselves into while chasing the right-wing rage-addict viewership.

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Jake

@surcomplicated
You are far more optimistic than I am that this won't be seen as a particularly strong return on investment. A one time payout to understand exactly how much they can get away with and continue to reap record revenue. A few hundred million amortized against the last 20 years of disinformation and probably another 20 moving forward? Twenty million a year? Tucker alone costs nearly twice that.
@Popehat