Dominion vs. Fox News Is Going To Trial
Issue #118 — Dominion won a major victory in its defamation suit against the leading cable news network, as jurors will now be responsible for deciding the outcome of this case.
Dominion vs. Fox News Is Going To Trial
Barring a settlement, it looks like Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News will be heading to a jury trial.
A Delaware judge denied a motion to dismiss the suit during the pretrial phase handing Dominion early victory. Judge Eric Davis said in his order that the evidence made available during the civil proceeding made it “CRYSTAL clear” that what was said by Fox News during the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections regarding Dominion was not true.
Jurors will now have to decide whether Fox News was within its First Amendment rights when it aired these falsehoods during that period. If they are not, they will also be responsible for determining the monetary punishment the network will receive.
Dominion celebrated the ruling saying, "We are gratified by the Court's thorough ruling soundly rejecting all of Fox's arguments and defenses, and finding as a matter of law that their statements about Dominion are false. We look forward to going to trial."
As for Fox, they continue to believe that they are protected by the constitution, saying, “This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news. Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.”
The pretrial proceeding was an eye opener as private emails and text messages were made available and gave insight into the chaos that unfolded during election night and afterward, as well as how the network worked a strategy to keep a lock on its viewers who were in disbelief with the actualities of the political landscape.
Most of the evidence presented showed that network executives and hosts did not believe what they were putting out but felt like they had to do it so as not to lose viewers who they feared would migrate to the other conservative-leaning news channels.
The trial, which will take place in April, will be closely watched by many as the outcome may encourage more people and institutions to go after the media if Dominion wins or will give additional first amendment protections to news organizations should Fox prevail.
(Los Angeles Times, Eric Gardner/Twitter, Elizabeth Landers/Twitter, Dominick Mastrangelo/Twitter, New York Times )
ABC NEWS RECAP
Layoffs At ABC News Begin
Well, that didn’t take long; last week’s edition of Coverage Notes discussed the looming layoffs set to take place at ESPN and ABC News. Disney, the parent company of both networks, announced last Monday that the company-wide layoffs would begin and take place over three rounds. It is expected that 7000 positions will be eliminated across the board, which the company hopes will result in $5.5 billion in savings. The first round is already underway and impacted staff at ABC News, which saw around 50 positions being eliminated — some of these positions were unfilled, so there’s that. Some of the news division’s highest-ranking executives were the ones to be laid off, including Wendy Fisher, senior vice president, newsgathering; Galen Gordon, senior vice president, talent strategy & development; Mary Noonan, vice president, talent strategy & development; Alison Rudnick, vice president, corporate communications; Chris Vlasto, senior executive producer (head of investigative unit); Heather Riley, executive editorial producer and David Herndon, executive director, bureau chief. (TVNewser)
ABC News Restructures Its Leadership Ranks After Layoffs
As a result of the loss of key executives during Disney's first round of layoffs, ABC News chief Kim Godwin announced a new leadership team of Katie den Daas, who becomes vice president of newsgathering, overseeing the domestic and international teams, including bureaus worldwide, the desks, and NewsOne; Derek Medina becomes executive vice president overseeing an expanded Business and Operations team, which will include talent strategy, production operations, business operations, and business affairs; and Stacia Deshishku, executive editor and senior vice president of news who now oversees ABC News’ investigative and enterprise reporting units, which include medical, business, and climate, in addition to linear shows and special events. Deshishku will also oversee ABC News’ bookings department. (Deadline)
Is Kim Godwin Finally Making Her Mark At ABC News
This major realignment by Kim Godwin at ABC News could signal that she is finally, after being in this position since May 2021, putting her mark on the news division. Godwin inherited this leadership team from her predecessor James Goldston. While she’s brought on people here and there, she didn’t shake things up within the executive ranks, and possibly the Goldston way of doing things was still in play until today. There could be a variety of reasons why she took this long. Maybe she wanted to understand what she had before she flexed her muscle. Perhaps she didn’t want to upset the formula seeing that ABC News was a top performer in the morning and evening news. Maybe she was waiting to get a firm endorsement of her in that position, which she recently received from Disney head Bob Iger who said, “Kim’s success is our success, and we are invested in her.” With the layoffs announced by the House of Mickey, Godwin conveniently used them to get rid of people who maybe were not happy with her and leaked negative stories about her. It’s all coincidental, but things don’t happen for no reason in this industry, even under the pretext of layoffs. (ABC News Public Relations, The Daily Beast Confider)
QUICK RECAP
Profile: Katie Phang on her new MSNBC special and the first anniversary of her weekend show. (TVNewser)
Profile: MSNBC's Alex Wagner on the road that lies ahead. (Forbes)
Jim Trotter: Laid off by the NFL Network. (Jim Trotter/Twitter)
Jim Trotter: Want happens at the NFL Network after his exit? (Awful Announcing)
Jim Trotter: The NFL fails on the issue of race after his NFL Network exit. (USA Today)
Jim Trotter: Did his public questioning of Roger Goodell on commitment to diversity lead to his exit from NFL Network? (Yahoo! Sports)
March Madness: Women’s Final Four sees ratings gains. (Sports Media Watch)
March Madness: Mark Grant takes over as director of the men’s Final Four/title game, becoming the first Black person to do so for CBS Sports. (The Athletic)
March Madness: CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz calls his final Final Four games. (The Washington Post)
Donald Trump Indictment: The media frenzy begins. (The New York Times)
Donald Trump Indictment: Fox News draws the largest audience as news breaks on Thursday. (Forbes)
Donald Trump Indictment: How the networks broke the news. (TVNewser)
Donald Trump Indictment: How did the cable news networks respond to the breaking news? (AZCentral)
Donald Trump Indictment: On-air gasps were heard as Fox News broke the news. (Variety)
CNN troubles: Network asks for patience as it rebuilds its programming. (Associated Press)
CNN troubles: Gayle King is set to join CNN in an effort to boost primetime. (The Wall Street Journal)
CNN troubles: No quick fixes to CNN's overhaul. (TVNewsCheck)
Gracie Awards: ABC, CBS, NBC/MSNBC and CNN were all named winners. (TVNewser)
Awards: Broadcaster Bryant Gumbel receives Lifetime Achievement Award at Sports Emmys. (TVNewser)
Derek Van Dam named meteorologist for CNN This Morning. (TVNewser)
CBS Mornings named Vlad Duthiers the “featured host.” (TVNewser)
NewsNation adds contributors to its legal and national security beats. (TVNewser)
Carol Lee named by NBC News managing editor, Washington. (TVNewser)
Rachel Bonnetta is out at NFL Network. (New York Post)
Frank Thomas is no longer a Fox Sports MLB analyst. (New York Post)
CNN and other news organizations refuse to pay for Twitter verification. (CNN Business)
The English Premier League will not get a Netflix-style Drive to Survive series as of now. (The Athletic)
MLB games will continue to air on Bally Sports despite the bankruptcy situation. (Front Office Sports)
NFL Network makes it official, announcing Willie McGinest will not be back with the network. (Front Office Sports)
Bloomberg heads to Hollywood as it looks to pursue an expansion of its intellectual property. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Warner Bros. Discovery's David Zaslav’s 2022 pay is $39.3 million. (Variety)
ESPN re-signs Holly Rowe to a long-term deal. (The Athletic)
YES network launches direct-to-consumer option. (The Wall Street Journal)
CNN announces debut dates for CNN News Central. (CNN Press Room)
No flex games for Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football for now. (Broadcasting+Cable)
Donald Trump gets a cool reception in his return to Fox News. (The New York Times)
What’s new during the 2023 MLB season on baseball TV? (New York Post)
Pat McAfee returns to ESPN's College Game Day next season. (Awful Announcing)
The slowdown in direct-response advertising to continue at Fox News in 2023. (MediaPost)
Fox Sports checked in with Alex Rodriguez first before hiring Derek Jeter. (New York Post)
Hulu's senior vice president Mark Levenshtein among those laid off by Disney. (Deadline)
MSNBC's Morning Joe and CNBC's Squawk Box will be available on Peacock. (Alex Sherman/Twitter)
ESPN's Mike Greenberg returns to Get Up after heart procedure. (Awful Announcing)
Thanks for reading the Coverage Notes Newsletter. We will be back on April 16.
Subscribe & share. Let us know what you think here - love it or hate it; we'll learn to deal with it and make it better.
A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #118 - 2023