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.
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.
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.
Our media has long been bought. That’s through advertising. News should not be allowed to run ads.
It was all the consolidation. They’re little feifdoms now.
Best we can hope for is some new medium to rise up that they cannot buy out.
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.
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.
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.
What is happening though is that US news is not presenting the news in an unbiased way.
If media conglomerates with millions of dollars don’t stand up to him, how can they expect any of us to do so effectively.
Surprise, surprise
Inaccurate how?
Because at the time of the judgment, the legal definition of “rape” in the state of New York did not cover what Trump was found to have done to E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos didn’t defame Trump. The legal definition of “rape” in NY was wrong, and I believe it has since been changed such that it would have covered Trump’s actions had it been correct at the time of his finding of liability.
In NY, rape is legally defined as sexual intercourse. If this were in Florida, it would have been legally defined as rape (unwanted penetration with an object).
This was nothing more than ABC paying into trump’s protection racket. They absolutely would have won in a trial.
Money? Fine. The public apology should have been the sticking point.
Stop pretending that infotainment channels like NBC, ABC and CBS are still journalism outlets.
