ABC News settles future president’s defamation lawsuit for $15 million
▲ In an image from September 15, 2020, during a broadcast in Philadelphia, the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, and ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, who was sued by the Republican.Photo Afp
Jim Cason and David Brooks
Correspondents
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 17, 2024, p. 21
Washington and New York. The decision by the national network ABC News to pay $15 million to settle a legal lawsuit filed by Donald Trump is a major triumph for the future president that threatens critical journalism and its ability to cover the next administration in particular, and is worrying for every defender of free expression in the United States, according to media experts and lawyers in this country.
During the election race, Trump sued ABC News host George Stephanopoulos for repeatedly claiming on television that the then-Republican presidential candidate had been held responsible for the sexual rape of E. Jean Carroll in a civil trial in New York. Trump’s lawyers argued that technically, under New York state’s strict laws, Trump was not found guilty of rape, but only of sexual assault and defamation.
After the jury’s verdict, the judge presiding over the case, Lewis Kaplan, clarified that the verdict “does not imply that she failed to prove that Trump ‘raped’ her in the way that many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.'” In fact, as the evidence at trial tells it, the jury found that Trump did just that.”
Several experts in applicable media laws indicated to the New York Times who believe that ABC News could have continued with the legal battle against Trump and that the decision of the national network, and its parent company Disney Company, to pay the agreed amount to abandon the case causes alarm. Even more troubling was ABC News’ decision to post a public apology on its website.
The capitulation of ABC News will surely embolden Trump and his allies, who have vowed to launch an unprecedented assault on the free press.wrote media analyst Oliver Darcy on his blog. This is a big victory for Donald Trumpadded veteran lawyer specializing in the right to free expression Floyd Abrams, who was the lawyer who defended the New York Times In the famous case of Pentagon Papers, among other cases. This will encourage you to file even more of these lawsuits..
In fact, at a press conference yesterday, Trump promised that he will continue to take legal action against news organizations that have distorted his statements. He announced that he is about to file a legal claim against the newspaper Des Moines Register for publishing a poll before the election, which was erroneous and that he will also take legal action against the CBS News news program, 60 Minutesto quote it incorrectly.
Several of Trump’s nominees to form his next administration, including the chairman of the federal television commission and the next director of the FBI, have also indicated that they intend to investigate media commentators who They helped Joe Bidenand even cancel some television station licenses for their broadcasts.
Show of power
In recent decades, Trump has repeatedly sued mass media, but he lost most of those cases because U.S. law had protected the press in this country from intimidation by public figures. But now that Trump is about to return to the White House, some commentators perceive ABC News’ decision as a sign of the power that the president will try to exercise.
“The executives at Disney… are responsible. Like other business leaders, they clearly do not want to be in a dispute with the president-elect,” analyst Darcy wrote. He New York Times He recalled that just days before the agreement on this lawsuit was announced, the Disney executive in charge of overseeing ABC News, Debra O’Connell, met in Florida with who will be Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
Compared to the traditional media of a decade ago, those of today are less financially robust, more politically threatened, and exponentially less confident that a jury will appreciate press freedom, rather than embrace its vilification.explained law professor RonNell Andersen Jones of the University of Utah. Times.
Worrying agreement with the news network
The details of the agreement are worrying for anyone who cares about press freedom in the incoming Trump administrationJulianne McShane wrote in the research journal Mother Jones. For its part, the publication specialized in the political world, Axios, sent an email to its entire editorial staff yesterday warning all its journalists to be more cautious. This is no joke. The framework of protections for communicators under which we live are relatively recent and are under real threat. A bad court case could have a big impact, so it’s important for everyone to be careful and aware of the risks.states the internal email as reported by Semafor.
The impact of Trump’s threats against the media was felt during the presidential race, when the billionaire owners of both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times announced that their newspapers would not publish their traditional editorials to endorse a presidential candidate this year (the editors of both publications had already prepared editorials in support of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris).
Meanwhile, in almost every electoral event, and when he previously occupied the White House, Trump has repeated his famous phrase that the mass media are the enemy of the people. Yesterday he repeated that the media They are very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections.