Dominion's case against FOX NEWS was 'uncommonly strong'

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00:00 to discuss this more now in more detail. We're joined by Frederick Davis, former

00:03 federal prosecutor and member of the New York and Paris bars on the line from

00:08 New York. Thanks very much for joining us this evening. Well as we've heard

00:12 interestingly in the past minutes this case has been settled. What have we

00:17 heard so far? Well I'm following what's in the same news feed you are. I just found out it

00:22 settled maybe three or four minutes ago so I have yet to hear the amounts or the

00:26 terms. I guess my quick reactions are two. One is I think this is a smart move for

00:32 Fox News for reasons that may not be relevant anymore. I think the case

00:37 against them was uncommonly strong and that the trial would have been a huge

00:41 embarrassment for them having all sorts of internal emails discussed, having

00:46 Rupert Murdoch probably testify. And second I think you know the settlement

00:51 itself I had thought it would not settle because they will have to at least

00:58 implicitly and maybe explicitly admit that what they were telling their

01:03 viewers in the fall of 2000 was wrong. 2020 was wrong and what we saw was they

01:09 didn't want to tell the truth to their viewers during the election of 2020

01:13 because they started losing viewers when they started you know reflecting that

01:19 Biden really had won. People hung up on them and went to another channel so

01:23 Rupert Murdoch says you got to stop that. So it'll be interesting to see how they

01:27 settled the degree to which they admitted that they had been misleading

01:31 their own viewers and kind of what their reaction will be. I'm really looking

01:36 forward to seeing that. On the other hand we heard that the trial was originally

01:40 supposed to start on Monday and it was delayed in order to find hopefully a

01:43 last-minute settlement. That's come today when the actual trial has already opened.

01:47 To what extent is this an example of Dominion perhaps not feeling as

01:52 confident as it may have? Well we'll see. I frankly doubt it. Everything I know

01:57 about their you know their lawyers now they prepared this case which they've

02:01 done meticulously. They got some actually some good news this morning namely the

02:06 judge appointed a special master to look in to the degree to which Fox had not

02:13 been fair in terms of their discovery. So look every case settles meaning

02:18 you know neither side gets exactly what they want. So Dominion obviously ended up

02:23 accepting a deal that was not 100% of what they wanted and they saved on the

02:29 risk and they saved on the cost. But I will be surprised if this can be

02:33 painted as anything other than sort of a shocking defeat for Fox. We'll have to

02:39 see. That's my that's my that's certainly my guess right this minute. And just the

02:43 latest news we're getting the they have not yet detailed how much this

02:47 settlement was for so that will be we'll be getting to it as and when we get it.

02:51 The question still remains even before the trial what sort of implications

02:56 could this have for for press freedom in the US? I'll tell you my view and I've

03:01 done a certain amount of press work I've actually represented companies in libel

03:07 defamation cases. My personal view is that this case would not have had a huge

03:11 impact on press freedoms. The notion of press freedom is you should have a

03:16 liberty to say anything for which there's an actual basis for believing

03:21 that is true and that there should be some flexibility on that. This struck a

03:27 bunch of people in the industry including many people who strongly

03:32 defend press freedoms and press rights as a as a company that just stepped over

03:38 the line. And when you when your guiding principle is we are going to report not

03:44 what we think is true or have reason to believe is true we're going to report

03:47 what our audience wants to hear that's not journalism that's something else. And

03:53 I so my view is is that this is an important case I did not view it as a

03:58 threat to press freedom. Okay Mr. Frederick Davis former US federal

04:02 prosecutor thank you very much for your insight on this news that we have just

04:07 been getting updates on and of course we'll keep you up to date with them as

04:09 we get them here in Paris.

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