OPINION:
Americans entertaining suspicion about U.S. election integrity had better keep it to themselves. Fox News’ massive monetary settlement in a defamation lawsuit involving the outcome of the 2020 presidential contest flashes a warning no less frightening than the signpost before the gate of hell in Dante’s “Inferno”: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” Asking questions involving possible election devilry is now risky business.
Last week, Fox News found the First Amendment’s free-speech protection a useless shield against a lawsuit over its election coverage. The nation’s top broadcast media organization agreed to pay a reported $787.5 million to Dominion Election Systems for airing then-President Donald Trump’s allegations of vote-rigging in Dominion’s machines.
The outcome of the case brought in Delaware came as a stunner, but it shouldn’t have: Winning a jury trial in President Biden’s home state would have been difficult in these highly partisan times. Mr. Trump faces similar headwinds in beating charges of business records violations that he faces in New York City, where he received just 23% of the vote.
Fox, with “fair and balanced” news and conservative opinion, made the mistake of looking behind the curtain of the 2020 Trump-Biden faceoff. Its post-election news coverage dared to contain allegations of shenanigans said to tip the election in Mr. Biden’s favor. Included were such segments as reports of polling officials in Detroit kicking out Republican ballot-counting observers; a sudden “plumbing leak” in Atlanta that closed down counting, which later reopened with Democratic poll workers but no Republicans; and most dire, Trump election lawyers claiming Dominion’s ballot-tabulation machinery had been rigged to defeat the sitting president.
Covering all angles of pivotal events is what news organizations do. Accuracy is paramount, of course, but apparent facts that sprout in foggy turmoil can shrivel in the light of day. Sometimes, inconvenient ones are purposely stomped into the dust.
It was the exposure of Fox’s internal deliberations over whether to air allegations of election mischief that brought down misfortune. Documentation of conversations, both spoken and written, revealed a range of opinion — including doubt that charges of Dominion deceit were provable. Presiding Judge Eric Davis concluded that the tabulation-tampering allegations were false, and Fox’s decision to air them amid lingering uncertainty indicated malice.
If Fox is paying up for laying down falsehoods, Democratic-friendly news outlets that broadcast for years the bogus Trump-Russia collusion tale should likewise write big checks. But they’re not. The takeaway: Repeat the officialdom-approved story, or else.
It’s a painful lesson already familiar to an inquiring public. Some earnest folk who brought their concerns to Washington and were caught up in the Jan. 6 melee have been paying for their transgressions ever since. And thanks to controversy-adverse courts in numerous battleground states, efforts to untangle widespread election anomalies of 2020 have come to naught.
Henceforth, the media will be tempted to avoid trouble and mouth mainstream election narratives. After all, curiosity killed the cat and, in this case, trampled Fox. Regardless of who wins future elections, Americans will be the losers: Without fearless reporting, Americans won’t be certain their leaders have won fair and square because the devil is in the details.
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