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.
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.
Yeah, after reading his books I now scheduled recurring donations for ProPublica, NPR and also an subscribed to a local news paper that still does some real journalism.
I don’t see how the payment will stop orange man from punishing them (and other media outlets he doesn’t like) anyway.
If media conglomerates with millions of dollars don’t stand up to him, how can they expect any of us to do so effectively.
That’s the neat part, you don’t.
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Probably still gonna be fighting the government for the next 4 years
Justice is too expensive. Maybe the tariffs will fix it.
Another perspective is that republicans, democrats and certainly large media companies are all prioritizing profit, polarization and fear.
I mean if Joe Biden could make the excuse that he couldn’t let the justice system to take it course, say that the justice system is political, and pardon his son, I mean why in the hell would ABC and George Stephanopoulos run the risk of political retribution also?
Only their sound bytes are trustworthy to an extent. Even then they’ve probably clipped them to fit a narrative.
Stop pretending that infotainment channels like NBC, ABC and CBS are still journalism outlets.
