When all this is over, media lying about shit needs be made legally vulnerable to very simple defamation cases by any party they lie about. Fox news as it exists today should hemmorage money in a just society.
They are legally vulnerable. The problem is that libel/defamation requires several specific tests to prove, some of which often dont apply to such situations.
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They have to make a factual assertion that is demonstrably untrue. It cant be just an opinion. (This one heavily depends on the specifics what is claimed)
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It must be publicated or otherwise spread to a third party. (This one obviously is the easiest test in this case)
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The claim must clearly be of and concerning the plaintiff, i.e. the one claiming to have been defamed. (Again, this one depends. When they are talking about “these people”, “the protesters”, etc. but not specific individuals, this gets very hard to prove they were even including any specific individuals)
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If the person claiming defamation is a public figure, they have to prove they either knew their claim was untrue or that they had a reckless disregard for the truth. If they are a private figure they have to prove that they at least acted with negligence when making their claim, meaning they didnt take reasonable steps to verify information. (This can also be a sticking point as they may claim that they had “good sources,” like the federal government, that verified their claims)
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The claim has to have caused actual damages to the person, such as if their livelihood was harmed or receiving death threats. It can’t just be their feelings hurt or people being mad at them. (Again, situational for the people, their job, their situation, and the reactions of others.
Personally I think actual damages is a bad bar because that depends on factors beyond the defamer’s actions. I think the bar should be the reasonabulity of the risk of damages, instead. Like they should’ve known calling someone a looter may lose them a job, regardless of whether the actually lose a job or even had one already, right?
But anyway, a lot of the lies they tell have just enough wiggle room to claim that it fails on at least one of these tests. Like maybe they weren’t make a specific claim of fact was demonstrably untrue, or they were stating opinion but phrasing it as fact. Or maybe they made a claim about the actions of a group that was true of some, but not all of them. Or maybe they made specific claims of criminal activity and get to claim they verified it with a “reliable” source, like the DOJ or FBI. Or maybe the person can’t prove material damages were caused from the defamation. And then of course, in all of these cases, the defamed must actually seek out justice by bringing suit against the defamers, which plenty do have the money, time or know-how to do.
I highly doubt that any justice will come at scale after this unless huge class action suits are filed, but the Supreme Court has weakened class actions too.
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Fox News should be forbidden by law.
You can’t call yourself a news organization and lie so transparently all the time. Make it a requirement that news organizations must by law factual
Fox News would disappear on day 1
Fox news already admitted (multiple times) that their programs are not news, and that no sane person would consider it news.
I think we need a law that says if a media organization is guilty of intentionally spreading fake news, that they need to spend an equal amount of time and effort on correcting the story.
So if fox spent 4 years spreading disinfo about the 2020 election, then they need to spend 4 years, on the same timeslots, broadcasts, and webpages, reporting that they intentionally spread disinfo.
Also, they should have to run a “surgeon general anti-smoking” style banner on all their programming that says “FOX INSISTS THAT THEIR CONENT IS NOT NEWS AND DOES NOT ACCURATELY REPORT FACTS AND CONTEXT.”
Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine that Ronald Reagan’s administration revoked.
It means he is fucking scared. He knows he is unpopular af.
To all of the good Americans who want to live in a world with alliances based on mutual respect and friendship, in a country that respects the rule of law and democratic principles… Keep fighting, ramp it up, they’re getting scared. Do not let up.
DO IT!
And while you are at it, invade Greenland, Canada and Iran.
Then cancel the midterms.You know you want to Trump!
So I dare you, DO IT!Once you start punishing people for insurrection you end up with a insurrection.
Oh, he’s going to do the thing he’s been planning on doing anyway? Real scary.
Adversarial Journalism! Someone needs to tell this man he’s a cunt to his face and he has bad ideas and his cronies are butt lickers, on television.
We already know he can’t hack confrontation, he melts down if he thinks a lesser is badmouthing him. Do it on live TV, consistently! Bully him, don’t let him get a word in, tell him he’s a nasty man, a rapist, and a cunt, and his dad thought so too.
Get in his face, make him sweat.
The fascist reality tv show host with dementia needs to be gelded.
Tbh I’m a bit surprised he didn’t try this at some point last year
I mean he just intends to keep escalating and then do it anyway. It honestly doesn’t matter how we respond, he’s going to do it. Violence is the only thing he knows, and it makes him even angrier to be ignored or not get the violent response he wants.
This is a man who Bill Barr had to dangle the prospect of killing death row inmates like keys to a toddler to keep Trump focused on anything at all. He needed the “treat” of getting to kill someone just to be able to focus at all, and that was before he had completely succumbed to dementia.
He did when he sent Marines to Los Angeles.
That was very fucking serious, but cancelling federal legislative elections is absolutely a very fucking serious escalation in a different axis.
He is the equivalent of having a sovereign citizen as president.
Lmfao
How great would it be if a couple ICE agents went rogue and attempted to arrest Trump and Melania for not having their papers.
