"... for some unknown reason, George Stephanopolous lied about Trump on the air, and because of that, they were likely to lose at trial"
It was almost impossible for them to lose. Long ago I got a degree in journalism. The part you're missing is the landmark Supreme Court case New York Times vs. Sullivan.
"... for some unknown reason, George Stephanopolous lied about Trump on the air, and because of that, they were likely to lose at trial"
It was almost impossible for them to lose. Long ago I got a degree in journalism. The part you're missing is the landmark Supreme Court case New York Times vs. Sullivan.
I don't have time here and now to explain it all in detail but, in a nutshell, as a result of that decision public figures* have almost no chance of winning a libel case against a media outlet, unless they can prove actual malice, which is practically impossible (unless you're Fox News encouraging their "journalists" and on-air guests to lie about Dominion Voting Systems, which is why they settled. It's also not clear that Dominion was a "public figure".)
That's at least part of the reason ABC paying off Trump is capitulation, at least in my view.
* Being a public figure is the key here. The rules are different for regular people like us.
"... for some unknown reason, George Stephanopolous lied about Trump on the air, and because of that, they were likely to lose at trial"
It was almost impossible for them to lose. Long ago I got a degree in journalism. The part you're missing is the landmark Supreme Court case New York Times vs. Sullivan.
I don't have time here and now to explain it all in detail but, in a nutshell, as a result of that decision public figures* have almost no chance of winning a libel case against a media outlet, unless they can prove actual malice, which is practically impossible (unless you're Fox News encouraging their "journalists" and on-air guests to lie about Dominion Voting Systems, which is why they settled. It's also not clear that Dominion was a "public figure".)
That's at least part of the reason ABC paying off Trump is capitulation, at least in my view.
* Being a public figure is the key here. The rules are different for regular people like us.