It’s too late to undo the damage inflicted by Alex Jones and his abominable smearing of the families of the children murdered in the Sandy Hook massacre, but what if a precedent has now been established that media figures can be held accountable if the conspiracy theories they’re peddling result in harm? Who might be liable for damages?
Alex Jones again: termed “almost certainly the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America” by the anti-hate Southern Poverty Law Centre, Jones has targeted a vast array of other groups and issues, including Jews, Muslims, COVID, vaccines, the “stolen election” and the “great replacement theory”. In May this year, a man targeting Black people murdered 10 in Buffalo in May, following the publication of an online screed on the great replacement theory.
Tucker Carlson: Fox News’ highest-profile broadcaster was such an avid spreader of the racist “great replacement theory” that one of America’s most-venerated and oldest anti-hate groups, the Anti-Defamation League, called for Carlson to be deplatformed after futilely complaining to Fox News about him in 2021. That call came after the Buffalo shooting — in its coverage, Fox did not mention the murderer’s motivation.
Tucker Carlson again: while many Fox News figures claimed COVID was a hoax or that vaccines were dangerous, Carlson aired claims that vaccines were dangerous and a plot against Christians, and has been singled out by the families of deceased people who refused to take vaccines. New evidence emerged last week that Fox News had a verifiable impact in reducing vaccine uptake in the United States. However, a case brought by a public advocacy group in 2020 against Fox News for COVID denialism was dismissed.
Donald Trump: as America’s conspiracy theorist-in-chief, Trump downplayed COVID, even called it a hoax, before backtracking to say he meant criticism of his handling of it was a hoax, called violent right-wing extremists “very fine people”, called the media the “enemy of the people”, peddled the “birther” lie about Barack Obama and encouraged white nationalist militants. But his lies about a stolen election and his direct incitement of a violent attack on Congress on January 6 2021, in which several protesters and law enforcement officers died, suggest the families of all of the deceased may have a case for damages against him — one that may become stronger if the US Justice Department decides to prosecute Trump in relation to January 6.
Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, sundry other Fox broadcasters, One America Network, Newsmax: the media outlets that promulgated Donald Trump’s “stolen election” lie and aired conspiracy theories about Trump being deprived of victory were part of the right-wing media ecosystem that enabled Trump. Noteworthy: in November 2020, Fox News reached a settlement with the parents of Seth Rich, a Democrat staffer killed in 2016, whose death was exploited by conspiracy theorists, including on Fox News.
The above, but in relation to voting machines: well, that’s already happening. A long list of Fox News broadcasters and Trump associates and supporters are being sued by Dominion Voting Systems over their claims that the machines were used as part of the “stolen election”. Some are being sued by Smartmatic as well. Dominion is still considering whether to sue Trump too.
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