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In typical fashion, Fox News distorts and hides its $787.5 million settlement from viewers [1]

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Date: 2023-04-19  

In terms of actual, written news, here’s how the so-called “fair and balanced” network covered it:

The news network also published one story on its home page, more than an hour after the settlement was announced. The story included the network’s official statement and called the lawsuit “media fodder.” By Tuesday evening, the story was ranked around the 30th position on the home page.

That “story” (actually a non-story) itself is a masterwork of deception by omission, providing absolutely no suggestion that Fox News’ anchors and hosts had done anything untoward whatsoever. More importantly, it does not suggest in any way what Fox News was actually accused of: knowingly deceiving its viewers by hyping false claims of electoral fraud. Instead, it only reiterates Fox News’ meaningless official statement, and bizarrely highlights the judge’s (customary) congratulations directed to both parties’ lawyers.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who was overseeing the defamation lawsuit, praised both parties for their handling of the case. "I have been on the bench since 2010. … I think this is the best lawyering I’ve had, ever," Davis said, adding, "I would be proud to be your judge in the future."

Judges always say that when parties settle. It’s a customary statement and means absolutely nothing. Notably, unlike the implication in Fox’s “story,” the judge here is not praising Fox (or Dominion) but rather talking about their lawyers.

The most conspicuous reveal was a rapid-fire statement read off by the hapless Howie Kurtz. It can be found on the Fox News website, but you really have to look to find it (It’s buried in a little video ensconced in the bottom right of your screen on the same webpage that the “story” appears). Even though he was speaking two hours after the settlement was announced, Kurtz still declined to name the amount.

As noted by Justin Baragona, writing for the Daily Beast:

Fox News media host Howard Kurtz couldn’t bring himself to repeat the hefty $787.5 million settlement his employer paid to Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday, claiming he was unable to “independently confirm” the amount. Kurtz, whom Fox forbade from covering the Dominion lawsuit before easing that restriction last month, made several on-air appearances to discuss the shocking settlement on Tuesday. Kurtz’s first report on Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto’s broadcast took place just before Dominion’s lawyers announced the bombshell dollar figure in a press conference. However, during his appearance on Special Report two hours later, the MediaBuzz host merely stated: “A Dominion lawyer gave reporters a dollar figure for the settlement, but I have not been able to independently confirm that.”

He was not able to “independently confirm it.”

Not to worry, though. Neil Cavuto, also in rapid-fire fashion, ultimately confirmed the amount. Just look how fast he talks.

x Fox squeezes in the news of their $787.5 million Dominion defamation settlement into the last 30 seconds of Neil Cavuto's hour pic.twitter.com/6msU63AXDm — nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 18, 2023

Couldn’t hear it in the link? That’s because, as far as I can see, you have to click on the Tweet itself to hear it. The sound of Cavuto’s voice-over apparently can’t be embedded…. isn’t that strange? Has that ever happened before with a Tweet you’ve embedded? Not for me, anyway. Guess there’s a first time for everything, but please correct me if you can actually hear it from the embedded tweet, above.

So, if you weren’t tuned in that very second to hear Cavuto’s high-speed staccato verbiage, you’d never have heard about the figure. And he says it so fast that most viewers, pre-occupied as they are, will never actually “hear” it, let alone digest it.

The lies and deception proceed, unabated.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/19/2164714/-In-typical-fashion-Fox-News-distorts-and-hides-its-787-5-million-settlement-from-viewers

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