Like their competitors on the left, Fox News panders to the peanut gallery. The model: Straddle the divide between real-world fact and partisan fantasy, and keep the peanut gallery happy by skewing the narrative as much as you can without doing too much violence to the truth. Omission of key information is a big help.

Eyeballs bring ad revenue, so its a lucrative model: Damn the scruples and keep the loonies tuned in at the expense of some omitted or twisted facts. It’s all good until a defamation lawsuit forces the defendant to lay the cards on the table.

Lawsuit Discovery Provides Clarity

Dominion lawsuits are proceeding against the following individuals and entities:

• Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer
• Sidney Powell, a former Trump campaign lawyer
• MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell
• Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com
• Joseph Oltmann, founder of a right-wing organization called FEC United
• One America News Network
• Newsmax
• Fox News

The Dominion Lawsuit v Fox

But the big fun has been reading what the Dominion lawsuit filing has revealed so far about Fox News and their business model.

Fox News personalities knew they were trapped by the mob of Trump crazies they had pandered to for so long. From a court filing:

Fox Hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity immediately understood the threat to them personally. Carlson wrote his producer Alex Pfeiffer on November 5: “We worked really hard to build what we have. Those fuckers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me.” He added that he had spoken with Laura and [S]ean a minute ago and they are highly upset,” Carlson noted: “At this point we’re getting hurt no matter what.” Pfeiffer responded: It’s a hard needle to thread, but I really think many on our side are being reckless demagogues right now. Tucker replied: Of course they are. We’re not going to follow them.”

“What Trump’s good at is destroying things . He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”

Tucker Carlson knew they were riding a tiger:

Late on January 6, Carlson texted with Pfeiffer that Trump is “a demonic force, a destroyer. But he’s not going to destroy us.” 

More, compiled by CNN…

In one set of messages revealed in the court filing, Carlson texted Ingraham, saying that Sidney Powell, an attorney who was representing the Trump campaign, was “lying” and that he had “caught her” doing so. Ingraham responded, “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].”

If you’re afraid that reporting the facts as they stand will “piss off the base,” maybe you should get another base.

Fox’s Craven Stand

Fox is making their cowardly stand on “free speech” grounds. This will be tricky. It is abundantly clear that press outlets cannot be prosecuted or sued for simply lying about events. Our infotainment Media Complex is a geyser of lies, obfuscation and confabulation. The information provided by Fox in discovery clearly shows their opinion bloviators like Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, Pirro et al were craven, lying crapweasels when it came to the 2020 election.

The question before the judge and jury is, did Fox defame Dominion? That’s not an open and shut case. Lindell, Powell and the rest of the cast of crazies will leave their courtrooms wearing barrels, but Fox could survive, even though their credibility is in shreds and they have proven they are no better than their competitors.

What say you?