The FoxNews TakeDown: Now Comes Smartmatic..

[Joinfortmill]

https://fortune.com/2023/03/07/rupert-lachlan-murdoch-disinformation-2020-election-stolen-fox-news-smartmatic-lawsuit/


'Smartmatic said the Murdochs, as the ultimate authorities at the network’s corporate parent, “directed Fox News Network to embrace disinformation following the 2020 U.S. election as a business decision.”...Smartmatic says its technology was used only in Los Angeles County during the 2020 election. Yet Fox News repeatedly gave Trump’s lawyers a platform to cast Smartmatic as an election-rigging specialist involved in a technological conspiracy to scuttle votes for Trump or shift them to Democrat Joe Biden in multiple battleground states.

Smartmatic claims the Murdochs “participated in, encouraged, played an affirmative role, ratified and were responsible for the broadcasting and dissemination of the defamatory reports,” despite knowing they were false. The Murdochs participated in meetings about the coverage, instructed Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott on its message and tone, and didn’t object when the segments aired, Smartmatic says.

Like Dominion, Smartmatic contends that Fox News got behind the bogus voting-fraud narrative to win back pro-Trump viewers who turned to rival conservative news outlets after Fox, correctly, declared on election night that Biden had won Arizona.'

[Beachnutt]

1. Statements made with 'reckless disregard' are unprotected by First Amendment

Last edited Wed Mar 8, 2023, 09:58 AM - Edit history (1)

St Amant vs Thompson 1968

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/604/st-amant-v-thompson

Court said 'reckless disregard' means person seriously doubted truth, published anyway

https://www.reuters.com/legal/fox-news-must-face-smartmatics-lawsuit-over-election-rigging-claims-2023-02-14/

Fox News and some anchors and guests "effectively endorsed and participated in (defamation) with reckless disregard for, or serious doubts about" whether the company engaged in election fraud.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Hmmm, I thought one had to prove actual malice, but I wasn't 100% certain. Thx

[CaptainTruth]

9. Those are the 2 standards, actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth.

You only have to prove 1 of the 2.

[liberalla]

11. Very interesting to know that. Thanks to you and Beachnutt for explanation/clarification.

[StClone]

19. Fox likely it's both

[soldierant]

21. Well, that certainly makes sense.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Who's next... Pharma?

Fox has lied about so much, there may be countless suits. Their hubris, dishonesty and greed has made them quite vulnerable. Sorry Carlson, your stock may be worth a lot less soon.

[SouthernDem4ever]

3. He needs to lose all of his millions

He doesn't deserve blood money.

[drmeow]

17. I'd like to see him

lose his family fortune as well. Unfortunately that's not going to happen.

[cyclonefence]

5. Where does Fox get the chutzpah

to allow Carlson to continue these lies? It's clear from the Murdock deposition in the Dominion lawsuit that they are heading for big, big legal and financial trouble over just this kind of shit. I hope there is some way those injured and killed on J6 can sue Carlson personally for the kind of pain his crap is causing them (thinking of Alex Jones).

[machoneman]

6. Wait. Did Smartmatic also file a lawsuit against Fox? Missed it if they did.

[Beachnutt]

7. Yes, for 2.7 BILLION

https://www.reuters.com/legal/fox-news-must-face-smartmatics-lawsuit-over-election-rigging-claims-2023-02-14/

[calimary]

22. And don't forget that 1.6 billion in Dominion's suit.

Since “green” seems to be the most important, I look forward to seeing lots of it taken AWAY from them.

It’s just unfortunate that they couldn’t add another zero or two to the back end of those big numbers. BANKRUPT those fuckers!

[gab13by13]

8. Fox needs to be hit with punitive damages,

that will raise that 1.6 billion up to a number that damages Fox, also for Smartmatic.

[GB_RN]

20. Assuming They Win...

And this is already a slam dunk case, you can pretty much count on punitive damages. I see no reason for there not to be any, so that Faux Nuz and Rupert/Lachlan Murdoch think three or four times before pulling a stunt like this again.

[Mr. Sparkle]

10. The cable companies make a lot of money from Fox, they should be sued next.

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. It's actually the other way around

Fox makes most of its money from carrier fees from cable companies, not advertising.

Still, pressure worked to get OAN and Newsmax off the satellite services…

[BComplex]

13. Cable companies end up paying fux nooz to carry their channels. If the cable companies were sued,

maybe they would stop making fux so rich!

[republianmushroom]

16. Tsk Tsk, Murdochs

[calimary]

23. Here. I'll join you.

I’ll play along to your Tsk Tsk!

[hadEnuf]

18. We need to get Fox by the throat and not let go.

Fox has lied, defamed, ruined people, spread baseless propaganda and are responsible for fomenting treasonous murderous violence. They need to be sued out of existence.

If not Fox as a whole, then the individuals who promote it. Make them a liability.

[Deminpenn]

24. As Nicolle Wallace pointed out on her show yesterday,

the lying about Dominion isn't just a one-off thing, it's the Fox News business model as shown in the depositions. It's all about "green", not "red" or "blue". To make money, Fox News decided it must cater to its viewers who only want to hear what they believe lest they leave for another rw media outlet. So Fox News reinforces the lies that they know to be lies. Wallace noted that this could well open up Fox News to be sued by other companies and individuals harmed by the lies.

Fox News has no good choices. It could settle, admit it lies, start telling the truth and lose viewers or it can continue its business model, keep its viewership and continue to be sued. Of course they could win at trial, but Dominion seems to have compiled a lot of damning evidence from Fox's own internal conversations and communications.