On Tuesday, Fox News managed to avert a no doubt destructive and humiliating (and utterly riveting) trial by settling with Dominion Voting Systems. They even talked them down to about half of what they were seeking! And they never have to even apologize or acknowledge on air! Good for them! Of course, that also means their reputation is dog poop to all but their most loyal viewers, with there now being proof that they knowingly lied to their public. Even some alumni weren’t too happy with them. That includes Bill O’Reilly, a man who knows Fox News settlements.
Bill O’Reilly: “Since I left FNC, the template changed from ‘Fair and Balanced’ to ‘tell the audience what it wants to hear.’ And millions of Trump voters, to this day, want to believe the 2020 election was rigged.” https://t.co/HIvQ9NofCm
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 18, 2023
In a lengthy statement posted on his site, the network’s former superstar — who, incidentally, was fired in the early Trump era after the company had to settle multiple sexual misconduct settlements involving him — trashed them for their “foolish coverage of the 2020 election.”
Although he noted that the “usual far-left loons are disappointed” by the settlement and lack of trial, most of his ire was for his former employer, who he noted are not out of the woods yet. “Going forward, Fox News faces a similar lawsuit from the Smartmatic Company and perhaps thousands of lawsuits from Fox shareholders,” he wrote, adding, “What a disaster.”
He continued:
This is what happens when money becomes more important than honest information. Since I left FNC, the template changed from “Fair and Balanced” to “tell the audience what it wants to hear.” And millions of Trump voters, to this day, want to believe the 2020 election was rigged.
Good for Bill O’Reilly for coming out against the voter fraud nonsense Trump, his cronies, and his enablers in rightwing media have been peddling for over two years now. Bill O’Reilly — a man so principled, so devoted to taking down crooks and liars that he went on a disastrous speaking tour with [checks notes] Donald Trump months after he tried to overturn democracy.
For what it’s worth, O’Reilly’s various settlements cost Fox News quite a lot less than their devotion to Donald Trump did.
(Via Raw Story)