Friend,

Last week, Fox News decided to settle the Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case for $787.5 million — and right-wing hosts like Tucker Carlson are hoping we’ll soon forget about their attempt to deceive the American public and overthrow a democratically elected government.

Not on our watch. Before Fox writes off its Dominion losses and continues its return to business as usual, we need a national reckoning on the harms the Murdoch empire has done and continues to do. Read our colleague Timothy Karr’s thorough review of the stakes — then donate to help Free Press keep up the fight against Fox’s harms and for a more just media system.

Thanks!

—The Free Press team

It's been a momentous week in media — one that executives and hosts at Fox News hope you’ll soon forget.

But the aftertaste from its $787.5-million decision to settle the Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case still lingers. The Murdochs want to wash away months of monumentally damaging headlines exposing their efforts to deceive the American public and help overthrow a democratically elected government. We won’t let that happen.

Tell me more about this lawsuit, and why Fox settled.

That Fox News settled for a gargantuan $787.5 million points to how strong Dominion’s case was — and also reveals the network’s desire to prevent further damning facts from coming out during a trial. Yet money alone won’t bring accountability, and it doesn’t correct the ongoing harms Fox News causes across society. For Fox chief Rupert Murdoch, $787.5 million is simply the cost of doing business for a media company that profits from deceiving people and spreading hate.

Thousands of pages of court documents exposed what many already suspected about Fox’s reckless reporting practices and political and corporate biases. But it’s important to remember that the settlement simply holds Fox News accountable for the damages it caused to Dominion’s reputation and bottom line. This one defamation lawsuit was never going to hold Fox accountable for the incalculable harm it’s inflicted on people of color, LGBTQIA+ communities and other groups that far-right hosts like Tucker Carlson routinely target. Nor does the settlement repair the damages Fox has caused by normalizing policies that take away women’s bodily autonomy — or by propping up narratives that inspire gun violence.

Fox doesn’t plan to change a thing as a result of this costly lawsuit. Its primetime lineup was as hateful and misleading as always the evening after the settlement was announced. That night’s programming included a lead segment from Carlson on supposed “mob rule” in Democratic-led cities. “This is why we used to shoot looters,” he said. Sean Hannity’s program led with a segment where he asked white-supremacist and Trump speechwriter Stephen Miller to “define a woman” as another guest referred to immigrants as “sex traffickers.” On Laura Ingraham’s show, the host led with a segment referencing Hunter Biden’s laptop and leveling unsubstantiated claims of corruption against the Biden family.

At no point during any of these programs did any of these admitted liars cover the settlement, let alone apologize for repeatedly and knowingly deceiving their viewers about supposed voter fraud during the 2020 elections.

So what now?

Before Fox writes off its Dominion losses and returns to business as usual, we need a national reckoning on the harms the Murdoch empire has done and continues to do. We must examine the history of U.S. policymaking and lax enforcement that allowed the Murdochs to amass so much media power. Why is a company that routinely misinforms the public and endangers democracy allowed to use our public airwaves or other public property and communications infrastructure?

Then we must work together to put in place the types of policy changes that will foster a media system that supports public-interest accountability journalism over the spectacle of deception and bigotry that passes for news at Fox. We need:

• More public investment in civic media, especially in communities that have suffered the most from the Murdochs’ brand of media bigotry;
• Real diversity in media ownership;
• The ability for consumers to opt out of paying for Fox as part of their cable and streaming bundles;
• The end of federal agencies rubber-stamping massive media mergers, and;
• A Congress that will stand up to Big Media lobbyists on behalf of the people they actually represent.

No single company has done more combined harm to our planet (by pushing climate denialism), our society (by spreading racism and hate), and our democracy (by promoting authoritarians and attacking fair elections) than Fox. Fox is hoping with this settlement that we’ll all just move on, and the outrage will fade away.

Again, we won’t let that happen. We won’t forget Fox’s destructive legacy or excuse the lawmakers who helped the Murdochs build their toxic media empire.

The fight to create a healthier media system has had some defeats and victories. While we can chalk up Fox’s Dominion settlement in the win column, it’s only one small step toward building a media system that better protects democracy and holds its enemies fully accountable. Donate to Free Press today and power our essential work to hold Fox accountable.

Thank you for joining us in this critical work,

Timothy Karr
Senior Director of Strategy and Communications
Free Press
freepress.net

P.S. Free Press doesn’t take a single cent from business, government or political parties. That means that generous donations from people like you make everything we do possible. Will you donate today? Every gift makes a difference as we work to hold Fox accountable, transform local journalism and protect essential public and community media.