It took some two years, but Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News is finally coming to trial. Even its alumni don’t think it looks so hot for right-leaning network. The last few months have seen one damning revelation after another go public, including its biggest stars laughing off the very voter fraud claims they were putting on air. (Tucker Carlson even went as far as saying he hates Donald Trump “passionately.”) Not only could they lose a ton of money, an even worse fate may befall them: They may have to go on air and tell their viewers they lied.
As per Mediaite, New York Times reporter Nick Confessore went on MSNBC to talk about what could happen should things go sideways for Rupert Murdoch’s bothersome baby.
“If they go to trial and lose, it’s possible, yes, a court could order an apology or a settlement could include some kind of apology,” Confessore explained. “I think that will be a hard thing for Fox to swallow; they would presumably have to go on the air and have their primetime hosts who peddled these lies say, ‘I lied to you, I was wrong. I knew it was wrong. I’m sorry.’ It’s hard to imagine that—it would be catastrophic for the network, for any network. I think that’s part of why there’s resistance.”
One problem, though: Admitting they deceived their viewers will be a touch awkward considering they’re still spreading doubt about the 2020 election.
“There are still Fox hosts on the air right now who lie about the implications of the elections and cast January 6th as a noble insurrection against, you know, a wronged loss,” he said. “So how can they apologize for something they’re still doing, which is essential to their business model? Which is to keep happy the audience that believes that Trump won in 2020.”
So what will happen? Will Tucker Carlson robotically read some hostage-like statement about how he misled his millions of viewers, then go right back into doing the same thing? Or will Fox News improbably avoid disaster? The latter, alas, seems the more far-fetched option.
(Via Mediaite)