美国国家公共电台 NPR--The trial over Fox News' false election fraud claims is settled at the last minute

The trial over Fox News' false election fraud claims is settled at the last minute

Transcript¹

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Justin Nelson, co-lead counsel for Dominion² Voting Systems, about its $787 million settlement with Fox News over the falsehoods it aired about the 2020 election.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A two-year legal battle came to a conclusion Tuesday when Fox Corp., parent company of Fox News, settled with Dominion Voting Systems over Fox's false claims about the 2020 election. Dominion had initially³ sought $1.6 billion in damages, saying Fox had harmed its reputation by repeatedly airing false statements about Dominion's voting machines and technology. In preparation for the trial, Dominion found evidence that Fox knew its claims were false but aired them anyway. In the end, the two sides agreed that Fox will pay Dominion three-quarters of a billion dollars. In a statement, Fox acknowledged that, quote, "the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false," unquote, and that the settlement, quote, "reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards," unquote.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JUSTIN NELSON: The truth matters. Lies have consequences.

MARTIN: That was Justin Nelson, the co-lead counsel for Dominion, speaking after the settlement was announced. And he is with us this morning. Good morning.

NELSON: Good morning.

MARTIN: Why do you think Fox settled?

NELSON: I think what developed over the course of the case was the evidence, as you mentioned, just the mountains of internal emails and texts that really showed that they knew these election lies was - were false. I think at the time there was a real question. Did they know, or did they not know? And I think what the evidence revealed was that they absolutely knew, and they did it anyway.

MARTIN: And why did Dominion settle, given the strength of the evidence that you'd collected pretrial?

NELSON: That's a great question. I think, from our perspective, we had two real goals in this litigation. The first was accountability, and the second was to have our client have some type of renumeration for just this massive harm that it has received. And we achieved both of those goals. First, on accountability, over the course of the last several months and the evidence that we developed, as you mentioned, I think it's now clear what has happened and what was happening behind the scenes. And in terms of renumeration, the number that we reached, we had a couple different models for our damages. One was our base-case damages model, and then we had a growth-case damages model. And the number that we reached was really all of our base-case damages model, and we receive the money now as opposed to waiting for two, three years after appeal. In terms of...

MARTIN: So bird in hand.

NELSON: ...Where we are...

MARTIN: Bird in hand, in terms of the renumeration side, bird in hand - more attractive than possibly jeopardizing⁴ the settlement.

NELSON: Well, it's an 800 million...

MARTIN: Yeah.

NELSON: ...Bird in hand.

MARTIN: Sure.

NELSON: So...

MARTIN: Well, exactly. So the suit - that - $800 million is a big number. But there was no on-air apology. There does not seem to be any requirement of that. You know, part of the - Dominion's argument is that there was harm to its reputation. Without that, can this settlement restore Dominion's reputation, especially among the people who primarily get their news from Fox and who were thus most exposed to these lies?

NELSON: Well, I think so. And there's clearly a problem in this country, right? Dominion got swept into this torrent⁵ of lies and conspiracy⁶ theories - this alternative universe - that, of course, affected⁷ Dominion and election officials all across the country and really harmed democracy. And your question is unless people hear it over and over again, will they somehow break out of their bubble? And I would say this, Michel. This is a civil litigation. We can accomplish only so much. We could have gone all the way to a jury verdict, and there still wouldn't have been an apology. What we can do is force, through the civil litigation mechanism⁸, the accountability through the evidence that we reveal and the money that they pay. And on those, we have achieved it. And I think that, really, we have to continue to be thinking about how we break out of this bubble...

MARTIN: Well...

NELSON: ...For all of us.

MARTIN: ...Friendly amendment⁹, though - my question spoke¹⁰ to not hearing it over and over again, but hearing it at all, the people who are most likely to have heard it to begin with. But just in the minute we have left, can you just talk a little bit about the broader issues that you just surfaced? You know, Fox argued that this loss for them would have had ramifications¹¹ for the First Amendment, curtailing¹² the ability of people to air even, you know, unpopular opinions. But other people say it means that you can keep spreading lies if you can afford to write a big enough check. Does this decision establish any bright lines in your view, as briefly¹³ as you can?

NELSON: Oh, I think this was in the heartland of the First Amendment. I think what this really showed was that the actual malice¹⁴ standard is something that all journalists should embrace - we certainly embraced it - and that what we have here is how we balance the different rights and to make sure that we're protecting the reputation. And so I think what we did is really defend truth and that, as we said, the truth really does matter and that lies have consequences. And that's totally consistent with the First Amendment.

MARTIN: That is Justin Nelson. He's the co-lead counsel for Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation¹⁵ suit, now settled against Fox. Mr. Nelson, thanks so much for being here.

NELSON: Thank you.

MARTIN: We'd like to let you know that we reached out to representatives of Fox Corp. if they'd like to make any further comment, and we will let you know if they do.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 jeopardizing   

危及，损害( jeopardize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Plans may also become inefficient in the attainment of objectives by jeopardizing group satisfactions. 用危及群体利益方法去达到目标的计划，也是无效率的。
• That boosted government revenues in the short term, but is now jeopardizing them. Morales将天然气工业，电信业和部分采矿业收归国有的举措吓跑了投资者们。

5 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

6 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 curtailing   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They will be curtailing the discussions at two thirty. 他们将把讨论缩短至两点半。 来自互联网
• Individually, banks are acting rationally by retaining their capital and curtailing lending. 此外，银行们正在合理地保留其资本和减少贷款。 来自互联网

13 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

14 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

15 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。