http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540783...ake-news-story

It will be interesting to see whether Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News Channel decide to settle this lawsuit out-of-court - like they did with nearly all of the sexual harassment lawsuits - or go ahead and fight Mr. Wheeler in open court. Fox News can argue that Mr. Wheeler, the plaintiff, is bitter, disgruntled, and aggrieved because he hasn't achieved the visibility and career goals at FNC to which he aspired. Now, out of bitterness, Mr. Wheeler has decided to sue. That would be Fox's argument: That Mr. Wheeler is greedy, suing for money, and that he doesn't have much of a case.

On the other hand, Fox News - after a week of running their "bombshell story" - suddenly retracted it claiming that the story had not met their rigorous editorial standards. In the journalism world, retracting a published story is a virtual admission that lies and misrepresentations were [intentionally?] reported as facts. Plus, Mr. Wheeler appears to have voicemail recordings and emails which seem to support his claims. (A defense tactic at trial will be to try and get as many of those voicemails and emails suppressed - not seen or heard by the jury - as possible.) If this case actually goes to trial, Fox News employees can look forward to being dragged in front of a jury and forced to testify under oath. With so many Fox News employees involved in this, there's no telling what [potentially embarrassing] information might be revealed. (Here's a tantalizing possibility ... Does President Trump get called to testify under oath that he read the story before it ran and strongly urged FNC to go with it? If he denies that he read the story prior to publication, will the jury believe him?)

Then, of course, there's the final straw ... Going to trial - versus settling out-of-court - always entails the risk that the jury sides with the plaintiff and returns a HUGE damages award against the Fox News Channel and in favor of Mr. Wheeler. If that happens, not only does FNC take a hit to their reputation, (as it is), but they also take a significant financial hit.

Taking all of this into consideration, my guess is that Mr. Wheeler's lawsuit will be [quietly] settled out-of-court - which is consistent with the way Fox settles all their other lawsuits.

One hell of a supporter.

ota:

Mr. Butowski is now claiming that he was "just joking" [to Mr. Wheeler] about Trump reading the report, so that would be Trump's out if he's called to testify. Since this is a civil (and not a criminal) case, I think Trump can be compelled to appear and testify, but IANAL so we'll see ...

Not a single right wing asshat I've spoken to has even heard about this.

If it was CNN and not FNC we'd never here the ****ing end of it.

Denials for Trump fall into one of 5 categories:

A. Just joking!
B. Yes I said that, but it's OK because I am new to politics and don't know what the hell I'm talking about
C. Fake news
D. Russian adoptions
E. Hillary

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing her daily press briefing. She's denying that Trump read the FNC story or had any pre-publication knowledge whatsoever. Of course, we know that the President never lies, so his denial has to be the truth

this could seriously damage fox news' credibility as a source of objective journalism

Heh yeah

Same here.