Thursday 20th April: Fox settles defamation lawsuit for $787,500,000

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Fox settles defamation lawsuit for $787,500,000

'Truth matters... Lies have consequences'. Those are the words of attorney Justin Nelson announcing that Fox and the voting equipment company Dominion had reached a $787.5 million settlement in their defamation lawsuit. Financial consequences, yes. But how nice would it have been to watch Murdoch and his truth-twisting minions squirm on that stand?

As Maggie Sullivan described it in this Guardian piece, for a moment of Tuesday, it looked like the impossible was actually going to happen, "The corrosive lies of Fox News would go on trial, Rupert Murdoch would be forced to the witness stand, and positive societal change might result."

Alas, the media mogul paid his way off the hook again and his 'news' company issued a classic Doublethink statement, saying the settlement reflected its “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards”.

*Don't be too sad, Smartmatic is after Fox for £2.7 billion in another suit likely to be held next year.

"We must take responsibility for what readers know," says Poynter's Roy Peter Clark

Maybe the people at Fox should be putting in a bulk order for Roy Peter Clark's new book, "Tell It Like It Is: A Guide to Clear and Honest Writing". I love Clark's Writing Tools and I'm sure this will be an excellent guide to doing good journalism in the middle of the Culture Wars. This interview in Journalism.co.uk is well worth a look if you're wondering how to navigate this world of 'lies, propaganda and misinformation'.

Hearst UK CCO announced as Chair of the PPA's under-30s Next Gen Board

This is just such a great initiative from the UK's PPA, encouraging the inclusion of younger voices across the special interest and magazine media sector to help shape the future of the industry. Heart's Jane Wolfson, Chief Commercial Officer at Hearst UK will be the chair of its 15-member Next Gen board. She said: "We want to encourage different perspectives and ideas, as well as helping the next generation of leaders hone their skills at board level.”

InPublishing and Wessenden Marketing have been polling people who work in the media to find out who they think are the key individuals currently shaping media. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, Elmo topped the poll with 36%. “Ownership of Twitter gives him an influence that is out of all proportion to his capabilities,” said one wise respondent. The next nearest contender was OpenAI's Sam Altman and I'm just away to check my pension to see if I can afford to retire (JOKES, I'm a freelance journalist, I don't have a pension).

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