Will a $787M US hit change Fox News? Don't bet a dime on it
CBC
Exactly 50 years ago, Rupert Murdoch bought his first U.S. newspaper, espousing a lifelong credo that would make him a world-shaping media baron.
"We're not here to pass ourselves off as intellectuals," the Australian mogul told a U.S. reporter soon after his 1973 purchase of the San Antonio Express-News.
"We're here to give the public what they want."
He gave them fact-twisting sensationalism and pearl-clutching tales of crime and immorality. The paper's managing editor would wander through the newsroom and sing out, "This isn't journalism. This is show biz," said a profile in Texas Monthly in 1976.
That profile ended with an observation: "A horrifying fact, for those whose hearts throb with civic loyalty, is that Murdoch's formula is working."
It worked so well that Murdoch wound up as possibly the most prominent media owner on Earth, with just one property, Fox News, dominating U.S. cable-news ratings and holding unparalleled influence in American conservatism.
That credo has now led to an unprecedented punishment.
In the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. election, the stars of his network, and its executives, were obsessed, according to court records, with not disappointing the audience, and they avoided declaring the simple truth that Joe Biden won.
The result is a costly golden anniversary for Murdoch's half-century career as a U.S. media proprietor: $787.5 million. (All figures in U.S. funds.)
That's the amount Fox News and its parent Fox Corporation have agreed to pay a Canadian-founded voting-machine company, Dominion Voting Systems, in a last-minute attempt to avoid an embarrassing defamation trial.
Fox News also admitted in a statement to making false claims about those voting machines, over a period of weeks when some network figures peddled wild conspiracy theories.
"[This] represents vindication," said Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson.
"The truth matters. Lies have consequences."
Within limits. Fox hasn't actually apologized, barely mentioned the settlement on its airwaves, and in a statement boasted about its high journalistic standards. The lawyer, Nelson, cautioned that disinformation remains an existential threat to democratic self-governance and conceded this litigation will not solve all problems.
