There was much rejoicing in many left-leaning and moderate circles when the news broke last Monday that Tucker Carlson was out at Fox News.
In the ensuing week, many sought to label it as a sign that the far-right network would stop pedaling election-related lies and other distortions in favor of more measured programming
That is likely wishful thinking. Someone will step into Carlson’s vacated 8 p.m. spot, and he or she is not going to suddenly walk the middle ground. Before Carlson, there was Bill O’Reilly. Before him, Glenn Beck. There’s money to be made in outrage.
Still, the news of the past month is welcome in that it proves that yes, lies have consequences — if not in the court of public opinion, at least in the court of law. Fox and other purveyors of “alternative facts” will likely think twice before letting unfounded and damaging conspiracy theories hit the air. And that is a victory for journalists and citizens everywhere.
But the issue is less about truth than it is about cash. While that may be disappointing to purists, it points toward a path for those looking to stem the tide of disinformation: Hit liars where it hurts, in the wallet.
The common assumption is that Carlson was unceremoniously booted from Fox for his role in boosting the lies the network was spreading about the results of the 2020 election.
That’s not entirely true. It’s not even because Carlson, thanks to a trove of damaging texts, got caught in the lies. It’s that the lies cost FOX News money — hundreds of millions in an out-of-court settlement and the loss of blue chip advertisers. Lying may be a venial offense in the Fox corner of the “journalism” world, but costing the company money is a cardinal sin.
Publicly, the reasons for Carlson’s firing remain unclear. Carlson says he doesn’t know why he was let go, and FOX News isn’t offering details. Some say it was the texts that admitted to the network’s lies, while others point to the offensive language of the messages, and their disdain for the corporation’s leaders.
What is clear, however, is that the ball was set rolling when Dominion Voting Systems went to court.
Earlier this month, Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle the lawsuit over the network’s continued airing of false claims about the 2020 election and the security of Dominion’s voting machines.
Dominion asserted that Fox programs had falsely aired allegations that the company rigged the election in favor of Democrat Joseph Biden, even though many Fox executives knew the claims weren’t true. While Carlson’s 8 p.m. show, the massively popular “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” wasn’t a major transgressor, the host was expected to be a star witness at trial.
The settlement came shortly before Carlson was scheduled to testify. A few days later, he was gone.
The network’s woes, however, are far from over. Smartmatic, another election technology company, filed its own $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox in February 2021.
“Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign,” a spokesman for Smartmatic said Tuesday. “Smartmatic will expose the rest.”
For those who appreciate fact-based journalism, it’s a good start. When some news outlets knowingly and loudly spread falsehoods — as Fox admitted in its landmark settlement earlier this month — it devalues journalism everywhere.
