When Fox News settled its lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for a whopping $787 million, liberals still wanted to be mad that Fox didn’t go to trial and didn’t give a public apology. MSNBC host Chris Hayes wanted to speak for those who felt the public “was robbed of an opportunity to learn more and to have some public accountability.”
But they also wanted to claim the lawsuit was a crushing blow to their reputation for anyone who wasn’t inside Fox’s fan base. Our Vice President for Free Speech America Dan Schneider brings his legal experience to the conflicted aftermath. We discuss how the settlement avoids a test of the “actual malice” standard created in the 1964 Supreme Court decision New York Times vs. Sullivan.
Anyone who is deemed a “public figure” has a much higher bar to prove harm. This is why high-school student Nicholas Sandmann drew settlements from CNN and The Washington Post for their reckless reporting of his actions (actually, inactions) after a March for Life. He wasn’t a public figure.
Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.