The broadcaster's agreement to settle a case over comments made about E. Jean Carroll lawsuits has sparked a backlash.

Summary

ABC News faces bipartisan backlash after settling a $15M defamation lawsuit with Donald Trump over anchor George Stephanopoulos’s inaccurate claim that Trump was “found liable for rape” in E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits.

The settlement includes a public apology, $1M in legal fees, and a $15M donation to Trump’s presidential library.

Critics, including legal experts and political figures, accuse ABC of prioritizing profit over principle, arguing the case was winnable if litigated.

This follows broader debates on media accountability and legacy outlets’ handling of defamation lawsuits. Trump denies wrongdoing in Carroll’s related cases.

  • Godort@lemm.ee
    2177·
    9 个月前

    Was the case winnable? Yeah, almost certainly.

    Would the upcoming administration try to get revenge after losing a high profile case like this? Also almost certain.

    ABCs bean counters realized that $15M as a donation would be cheaper than trying to fight the government constantly over the next 4 years.

    You voted for this.

    • takeda@lemmy.world
      1682·
      9 个月前

      Complying in advance is how we get fascist government.

      That is the first lesson in “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the 20th Century” by Prof. Snyder

      This is sign that our media completely capitulated and won’t even try to fight to preserve our democracy.

      • Godort@lemm.ee
        19·
        9 个月前

        You’re not wrong, but ABC is definitely not trying to fight tyranny. They’re a corporation with the sole goal of making money. This has been true of basically any US media company since the Reagan administration.

        ABC is looking to literally buy some goodwill so that they can continue to make money after Trump’s term.

      • phx@lemmy.ca
        18·
        9 个月前

        The country already knowingly voted for the fascists, just under the thought that “they’re our kind of fascists”

      • LeadersAtWork@lemmy.world
        14·
        9 个月前

        Traditional media hasn’t tried to preserve anything other than whatever spin on a story gets the most views and clicks. Independent media are the ones we all need to look out for and tune into now.

        A good example from the tech world is GamersNexus.

        • takeda@lemmy.world
          4·
          9 个月前

          Yeah, after reading his books I now scheduled recurring donations for ProPublica, NPR and also an subscribed to a local news paper that still does some real journalism.

      • trustnoone@lemmy.sdf.org
        3·
        9 个月前

        Complying in advance is how we get fascist government.

        Apparently we don’t have to do anything as advanced as that to get one. Because the American people would just as easily vote one in.

      • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        9 个月前

        If you’re looking for media to fight for democracy, I think you’re looking in the wrong place. Media is supposed to present the news. Then people can act on it.

        • takeda@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 个月前

          What is happening though is that US news is not presenting the news in an unbiased way.

          • NotAnonymousAtAal@feddit.org
            12·
            9 个月前

            There is no such thing as unbiased news. The best you can hope for is a diverse selection of news sources where the biases mostly cancel out in most situations.

      • zbyte64@awful.systems
        211·
        9 个月前

        Most people did not vote for this. He did not even get 50% of the popular vote. Let’s stop pretending the system doesn’t stack the odds against the people. If we did that we wouldn’t have been afraid to stack the courts, and so on.

    • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
      14·
      9 个月前

      I don’t see how the payment will stop orange man from punishing them (and other media outlets he doesn’t like) anyway.

    • Subtracty@lemmy.world
      12·
      9 个月前

      If media conglomerates with millions of dollars don’t stand up to him, how can they expect any of us to do so effectively.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      71·
      9 个月前

      Would the upcoming administration try to get revenge after losing a high profile case like this? Also almost certain.

      Would the incoming administration try for revenge after winning a case like this? Also almost certain.

      Dunking on weakness is their entire theme.

    • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      9 个月前

      Also the likelihood of it being winnable goes down a lot the moment Trump takes office. I don’t like it but i understand the decision. Still, we have to fight.

    • venusaur@lemmy.world
      1·
      9 个月前

      Another perspective is that republicans, democrats and certainly large media companies are all prioritizing profit, polarization and fear.