I’ve been trying to do a Google search on the following: in a defamation case like Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox, can a judge or jury in the case force Fox to issue a public apology from Fox, assuming that Dominion wins? I understand that their are compensatory and punitive damages in the form of money that a defendent owes to a plaintiff in a successful defamation lawsuit. And I understand that a public apology could be part of a pretrial settlement. But could Dominion force Fox to apologize if Dominion wins the defamation lawsuit?
Why I ask this question is that I think it is one of the major fears of Fox propaganda, and it is why there has been no settlement so far. All the pundits and other journalists are asking, “Why doesn’t Fox settle this case?” Given the amount of damaging deposition information that is pouring out about Fox, the so called smart play would be to settle and avoid paying punitive damages. However, I think that Dominion wants a public apology out of Fox, and Fox would rather pay out through every orifice than admit to their audience that Fox lied to its viewer.
I assume that if Fox loses this defamation lawsuit Murdoch would rather pay for the damages than admit they lie to their viewers. Imagine what would happen if Fox were to have someone like Tucker Carlson state the truth. It could cause a tear in the space-time fabric of the Trump Universe. And if all that happens with Fox is that they pay a lot of money to Dominion, Tucker and his ilk on Fox will never report this loss in the courts.
But I wonder if a judge or jury in such a case could impose a public apology as part of the damages awarded to the plaintiff? I have my doubts that could happen, but I cannot find a straight answer to this question. So I ask any lawyers on Daily Kos to weigh in on this question.
There is one other reason why Fox refuses to settle. It’s kind of a bank shot, but another legal analyst on MSNBC stated that Murdoch may think he can keep the damages down by arguing that little to no financial harm was done to Dominion. And there have been cases where plaintiff’s win, but the compensation could be as little as one dollar. Therefore, this is another factor in why Fox is not settling this case.