Same exact amount as the Dominion case. Keep it up, Fox - a couple more of these and we can finally get rid of this plague on American “journalism” for good. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/27/newsom-sues-fox-news-defamation-case-00429168
It’s much much harder for a public figure in a defamation case, and rightfully so. So I think this is more of a Trump-like stunt lawsuit that is going nowhere. He may win the argument that Fox knowingly lied, and maybe that’s all it’s about, but he’s not getting $787 million in damages. Hell unlike Dominion or some of the private citizens/election workers targeted by those liars, Newsome will probably have a hard time showing even $1 in damages if the lie is merely the timing of a phone call.
No doubt, but it’s only a matter of time before another Dominion case happens because these idiots can’t help themselves.
What sunk Fox in the Dominion case was that its own internal emails made it clear that they knew they were airing garbage but did it anyway because that's what their viewers wanted and expected. In this case, Watters had to ignore Fox's own reporting to make his claim. But the suit still appears more about publicity than any real damages.
My bet is he just wants to force discovery, and Fox may have a much lesser price they are willing to pay to avoid that process. If they hypothetically take it all the way to trial (highly unlikely) it could be one of those cases the plaintiff “wins” but damages are $0.
I disagree if this actually goes to trial and he wins. Compensatory damages could well be a dollar or nothing, but punitive damages could be half-a-billion dollars.
Even with Fox’s damning history re: the election machines and election worker stuff, this seems a reach. Could a judge/jury factor in prior bad acts? Who knows, maybe some crazy emails come out of discovery.
Yeah you would think eventually they would learn to follow the lead of MSNBC/CNN/NYT and anytime they want to call someone a liar they just say according to an anonymous source. You never have to say who the source is, they have been getting away with it for years.
Man you are so right! Having to dismiss so many fraudulent people ( Carlson, O’Riley, etc.) plus having to pay out millions and defend other fraudulent statements, there’s no defending Faux on this one!
Absolutely no problem with holding media accountable for knowingly broadcasting false information pursuant to a political agenda. If it takes a few successful lawsuits to make the media be what it’s supposed to be, a neutral watchdog over both parties, then so much the better. What I fail to see is the $700+ million worth of damages to the governor that he is claiming. That is going to be a tough sell.
I mean, the whole thing snow balls…. Fox is attacking him with fake stories because he’s a presidential front runner for 2028, and wants to weaken his chances. We know that being president can lead to billions of dollars of personal enrichment, with crypto meme coins, gold (colored) cell phones, foreign luxury airliners, gold (colored) watches, gold (colored) shoes, using tax payer funds to cover personal law suites…. All kinds of great stuff. We need to consider this in the judgement….
