Dominion benefits, public loses in Fox settlement.

“Damn!” That was my instant reaction upon seeing the breaking news that Dominion Voting Systems had settled its lawsuit with Fox “News.” Like many others, I had hoped to see the network’s managers and anchors answer for their lies under oath and on the record.

Dominion’s decision to settle marks a great outcome for the relatively small company valued between $30 million to $80 million. A $787.5 million settlement goes a long way in soothing the reputational damage it suffered after the 2023 election. Dominion’s lead lawyer acknowledged that the company was seeking accountability, and $787 million is a LOT of accountability.

During the course of the lawsuit, Dominion won the PR battle, exposing a plethora of emails, texts, and oral depositions that proved Fox didn’t believe Trump’s lies concerning the election, yet the network fed the lies to their audience, all in a bid to keep viewers from switching to other conservative news networks. It’s dubious that a trial could have made Fox look any worse than it already does.

What the settlement took away from us was the opportunity to see experienced plaintiff’s lawyers deconstruct smug anchors who disregarded journalistic ethics, then have the audacity to use the First Amendment as a shield.

Fox remains a winner and loser at the same time—it must write a large check, but it doesn’t have to apologize or do any form of damage control. All the network did was release a mealy-mouthed statement: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” The judge was clear in a pretrial ruling that, “…it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2023 election are true.”

Accountability in News Organizations

It’s safe to say that all news organizations make mistakes from time to time. But as journalists, it’s our responsibility to admit it on-air when we make errors; we run retractions just as frequently as the mistakes aired, and we give apologies. We understand that our viewers understand that making mistakes is part of human nature. I didn’t like it when we messed up, but I always felt like admitting our errors helped us build trust with our audience.

However, what Fox did was not a mistake. Instead, it was a deliberate attempt to create a false narrative even though the top executives didn’t believe any of it.

Real Accountability for Fox News

Many of us are yearning for accountability, but a lawsuit only does so much. The responsibility for real accountability now lies with Fox viewers and advertisers. If Fox loses viewers as an untrustworthy source of news, and if advertisers stop writing checks because they don’t want to be associated with a news operation that lies, then we will see some real accountability. If viewers continue to tune in, and advertisers keep sending their money, then nothing much will change. Fox will persist in feeding its audience with what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.

The Power of Truth in Journalism

The statement that Fox released after the settlement was, “We hope our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably … allows the country to move forward from these issues.” However, there’s a better way to help the country move on, and it’s taught to every freshman student in journalism class, and that’s through the five W’s and the H: tell viewers the truth, get all sides of a story, request evidence from public officials peddling conspiracy theories before granting them airtime, challenge the powerful, and if you make a mistake, have the courage to admit it on air.