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Jake Tapper allowed himself a moment of on-air hilarity this week, after it was announced that Fox News paid out almost $800 million in a major defamation case. The CNN host did nothing to hide his partisan loyalties, twisting the knife on the Murdoch-owned broadcaster.
A few days ago, Fox News reached an out-of-court settlement with Dominion – a company which provided voting machines at the 2020 US Election. A load of right-wing nutjobs and Trump-devotees claimed that their machines were rigged in favour of Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Fox News gave a large amount of airtime to these unfounded claims – despite top officials at the network not believing them. It has since been revealed that hosts like Tucker Carlson, who pushed ‘The Big Lie’, secretly derided Mr. Trump and his conspiratorial beliefs.
However, in the quest for ratings and bidding to keep the Trump faction of the Republican Party onside, Fox News continued to push the false narrative. It’s an editorial decision that ended up costing them almost $1 billion.
The settlement fee is estimated to be worth somewhere between 8-to-16 times more than Dominion’s annual turnover. Although this case didn’t make it to trial, the sheer size of the payout and the swift resolution suggests that Rupert Murdoch was keen to avoid legal scrutiny.
The whole thing has been a fiasco, and it’s little wonder that Jake Tapper and his colleagues couldn’t hide their sniggers. During a live broadcast, the veteran anchor burst into laughter while reading a Fox New statement that claimed they were still committed ‘to high journalistic standards’.
Pull the other one, guys…
“It’s one of the most ugly and embarrassing moments in journalism. Fox News have issued a statement saying they’re happy to have ‘settled’ their dispute with Dominion [laughter]. I’m sorry, this is hard to say with a straight face. Fox say they’re still committed to maintaining the highest journalistic standards.” | Jake Tapper
