But if I assume people are stupid, I can just feel angry and superior about it. If it’s a solvable problem like education and news reform then I have to do work and also recognize that some of what created my views is the luck of my environment.
Fox News has, in multiple court fights, successfully argued that certain primetime opinion programming is rhetorical, hyperbolic, or “opinion” such that a reasonable viewer would not take specific charged assertions as literal fact, a defense credited by judges in cases including Tucker Carlson’s dismissal in 2020 [1] and described in subsequent coverage [2]. That courtroom strategy — framing provocative programming as not intended or likely to be read as factual reporting — has become a recurring legal tool for hosts and defendants facing defamation suits [3] [4].
Now comes the claim that you can’t expect to literally believe the words that come out of Carlson’s mouth. And that assertion is not coming from Carlson’s critics. It’s being made by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York and by Fox News’s own lawyers in defending Carlson against accusations of slander. It worked, by the way.
The name “Fox News” should either be illegal, or Fox should be forced to constantly have a “this is not a fact but opinion” text somewhere on screen to be easily seen in big letters, or the law should re-asses what a “reasonable audience” is, or maybe ask (at the voting booth) if you believe Fox News and therefore become disqualified from voting, as you’re definitely not matching the “reasonable” part.
Them getting away with calling themselves “news” and at the same time arguing that they’re “not news, but entertainment and opinion” in court is not just dishonest but straight up evil. If you title yourself as “news”, you gotta think about what you say before you open your mouth, as otherwise what you’re doing is literally intentionally misrepresenting media.
But if I assume people are stupid, I can just feel angry and superior about it. If it’s a solvable problem like education and news reform then I have to do work and also recognize that some of what created my views is the luck of my environment.
Honestly, I’m just floored by the fact that “Fox News” is allowed to present itself as a news channel and even have the word “news” in their title.
Quoted from https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/fox-news-defense-no-reasonable-person-take-as-news-entertainment-only-392ed0
Quoted from https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye
The name “Fox News” should either be illegal, or Fox should be forced to constantly have a “this is not a fact but opinion” text somewhere on screen to be easily seen in big letters, or the law should re-asses what a “reasonable audience” is, or maybe ask (at the voting booth) if you believe Fox News and therefore become disqualified from voting, as you’re definitely not matching the “reasonable” part.
Them getting away with calling themselves “news” and at the same time arguing that they’re “not news, but entertainment and opinion” in court is not just dishonest but straight up evil. If you title yourself as “news”, you gotta think about what you say before you open your mouth, as otherwise what you’re doing is literally intentionally misrepresenting media.