(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Let's Knock FOX Out While It's Weak [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-02 News You may have seen this: Dominion won most of its judgment. Dareh Gregorian and Jane C. Timm, NBC News A judge denied granting summary judgment to Fox News in its attempt to get Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit thrown out Friday, meaning the case will go to trial in mid-April. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis handed Dominion a major win, too, when he agreed that the challenged statements are false. The ruling spares the voting machine company from having to litigate baseless conspiracy theories about its role in the 2020 election during the upcoming trial against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp. “The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote in his 81-page ruling, emphasizing the word "crystal" in his ruling. I Am Not A Lawyer, so I am not going to analyze this in any legal sense. Others can do that. What we can say is that a judge has already found that many of FOX News’s statements were false. This gives us more ammunition for taking FOX News down. This is a reason to contact reps and local authorities again. It’s more important than ever to do this. They are letting the orange menace back on the airwaves. And they are still repeating that there were “questions about the 2020 election.” Note: Dominion is not alone. There’s also the Smartmatic lawsuit Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, March 13, 2023 Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Fox News has attracted only a fraction of the attention garnered by the legal action of Dominion Voting Systems. Yet both firms are suing Fox for defamation related to its coverage of Donald Trump’s stolen-election lie, and both pose a serious threat to Fox’s finances and reputation. In fact, on paper Smartmatic’s suit appears to be the more dangerous. It’s demanding damages of $2.7bn, compared with Dominion’s $1.6bn. And there’s Abby Grossberg Sarah Fitzpatrick, Cynthia McFadden, and Rich Schapiro, NBC News It culminated in Grossberg complaining to a supervisor and then moving to file lawsuits alleging that she was harassed, retaliated against and ultimately set up to be the scapegoat in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News. “They’re a big corporate machine that destroys people,” Grossberg told NBC News in her most extensive interview to date. “I sat in those meetings. I heard them laugh about tearing apart politicians. Now I know that in those meetings they’re talking about me.” Repeat, and Repeat Some More Repetition is good. Repetition is good. The other side knows this. They know that if they repeat things, even false things, people start to believe them. Even when they don’t believe them, they sink in, to the point that they feel true, even when people know they’re bullsh*t. Think of all the things you know are false but also know are accepted arguments, because they’ve been repeated so often (trickle-down economics, only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun, etc). The left is different. We don’t like to repeat things, because it seems rude. And it can seem redundant to repeat truths, because they are self-evident. This puts truth at a disadvantage. Anyway, I’m repeating truths here. And asking you again to take a few steps to take down FOX News. Have you already taken some steps? Tell us about them in the comments. Have you already taken some steps? Maybe you can do them again. No reason not to contact the FCC more than once. Or your representatives, local, state, federal. Have you not taken any steps? See if there’s anything you can do. Have you encouraged others to take steps? Do that some more. The funny thing is, although many viewers are addicted to FOX and the right-wing lies, once it is stopped, they do recover. At least some of them. WHAT WE CAN DO ➡️Visit this website, Unfoxmycablebox. From their website: Pay for cable or satellite TV? You’re subsidizing Fox News whether you watch it or not. Your cable or satellite TV provider pays a subscriber fee to carry Fox News. That cost is passed directly on to YOU. Every network charges cable and satellite providers a small fee per subscriber; the one for Fox News is extraordinarily high. A typical household pays Fox News almost $2 per month—about $20 per year— via their cable or satellite provider, regardless of whether they actually watch the channel. In 2023, a wave of big contracts between Fox News and TV providers for subscriber fees are set to expire. These contracts make up a major source of Fox News’ subscriber fee revenue. If we want to stop paying the "Fox fee," now is the time to act. ➡️Complain to your cable company. If you have a cable subscription that makes you pay for FOX News, then complain to them now. Tell them you don’t want to pay for a media outlet that lies all the time. Here’s some suggested text: I’m writing to you to let you know I don’t want to have any of the money I pay you go to FOX News, which is lying to the American public, as determined by Judge Eric Davis. I expect you to reduce my bill by $X. Even if you don’t have cable for your TV pleasure, but you use a cable company for your internet, you can let them know you’re not pleased if they’re supporting FOX. ➡️ Contact government. If you feel as if that’s not enough, then contact those who have influence on the contract. Contact your governor, contact your mayor, contact your senators and your representatives. The House, with the Rs in charge, will not help, but the Senate could. Demand hearings, especially the lies exposed by Dominion. Also, some R senators are not pleased by those lies these days. They hate tRump with a passion. Suggested text: Dear Senator: FOX News is pumping poisonous propaganda into the public. Lies should not be tolerated. Judge Eric Davis even found that they are full of lies. ➡️ Write letters to the editor talking about how we’re being forced to subsidize lies that hurt us. Let other people know. Tell them on FB, Twitter, Instagram. ➡️ Afraid no one reads your stuff? Then freewayblog (thanks, freewayblogger) ➡️ Complain to the FCC (thanks, dadadata) You should contact the FCC if you have complaints or questions about the following issues: Cable Consumer Complaints . File complaints at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us Suggested text: Dear FCC: I strongly object to being forced to subsidize FOX News via my cable subscription. They are pumping propaganda for the Republican party. Judge Eric Davis has even found that they are lying. I want my bill to be reduced by these fees. Also, if you could get them off the airwaves altogether, that would be great. ➡️Do you have connections in the military? The Pentagon should pull the plug on FOX news. (Mike Lofgren, Jen Senko) At least as recently as a year ago, FOX News was the most popular cable news on the military. From the article: There is a whole library of information about how Fox News influences mom and dad to become rabid right wingers. This is hardly surprising, because Republican operative Roger Ailes teamed up with media baron Rupert Murdoch for the specific purpose of a purported "news" channel to hype Republicans and malign Democrats. Less is known about how the network propagates incitement to sedition and refusal to follow lawful orders to members of the military, the very persons charged with upholding the Constitution and national security. And the Pentagon is abetting it. As to the seriousness of the problem, a former Marine has told the authors: "Right-wing society has captured the military . . . If you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox." Another source told us that at their Air Force facility, Fox News is always blaring in common spaces during duty hours. Far from always being a service member's choice, the situation is often as at an airport lounge, where everyone is subjected to it like it or not. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has spoken of the need to prevent political extremism in the military. Indeed, the high percentage of service members and veterans among the Capitol rioters is alarming. How do we get it out of the military? VoteVets has tried, without success, but there seems to be more opportunity now. It may not be easy. There is the first amendment. Many of the people in the military really like FOX News. On the other hand, people do recover, at least somewhat, when no longer exposed to the toxic propaganda. ➡️ Go after advertisers (thanks for the reminder, Progressive Muse) Fox News gets way too much money from cable fees, but it also gets bucks from advertisers. Boycott their advertisers. Sometimes advertisers are unaware of where their ads are going, as they work through third parties who place their commercials. But one place is tracking this: “The group is called Check My Ads and they have been profiled by media like NPR and Fast Company” (Progressive Muse). You may find helpful information there. ➡️ Turn off the station (thanks Wolvie) Apparently, there’s something called “TVBGone” — a sort of remote that allows you to turn off the station in public places. I have never used this, and it does seem kind of rude. Maybe some military personnel should get this... ➡️Use the divisions between FOX and tRUmp. This is attacking FOX from the right, or rather from the crazy, but it is one way to weaken them. If you are speaking to tRump lovers who love FOX, let them know that the hosts all hate him. x 2/And, Tucker continued, speaking of Trump’s presidency: “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.” — Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) March 8, 2023 Even if your FOX-loving acquaintances refuse to believe you, the message sinks in. 👢 Let’s kick FOX “News” when it’s down, so it stops being an existential threat. ➡️ Do you have other ideas? Please post them down below. ➡️ Have you already done something? Please, tell us your story! 🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: Hunters of the Feather, a story about a thinker-linker crow who wants to save birdkind from extinction, and sequels, Scavengers of Mind and the brand-new Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And Hunters is also available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — including a new one for lovers of Pride & Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet’s Advice to Young Ladies — and others on Greek mythology, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/2/2161441/-Let-s-Knock-FOX-Out-While-It-s-Weak Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/