Lawsuit Alleges Fox News ‘Willfully and Maliciously Deceived the Public’ about the Dangers of the Coronavirus

From this article: Fox News Channel and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, are being sued by a Washington State nonprofit which says it aired false information about the coronavirus allowing it to spread widely in the United States.  A 10-page complaint was filed on Thursday in King County court by an organization known as the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics (WASHLITE).

Fox News has been in and out of court dozens of times over the years for spreading misinformation.  And now, as the state-run White House television channel, the sheer density of BS is at an all-time high.  Imagine trying to back up a pathological liar who has issued over 17,000 untruths or misleading statements through his first three years in office alone.

Yet somehow, this seems different.  This isn’t a case for a 14th investigation into Benghazi after the first 13 had failed, or an excoriation of Obama for his policies in Iran.   This is the agonizing death of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

Fox has instructed its viewer base to ignore the advise of scientists and doctors, on the basis that the virus is a “hoax,” an “impeachment scam,” that viewers are “safe as long as they’re not old or weak,” and that “at worst case scenario it might be the flu.”

The plaintiff has to show causality, and it’s hard to know exactly how this will work.  Looking at it from the other side, the defense will have to show that misleading an average of 2.4 million nightly viewers had no relationship to those people’s behavior re: self-isolating, social distancing, personal hygiene, etc.

Holy cats. Glad I’m not trying to make that case to the jury; I’d be snickering so loudly I might give myself away.