Dave Busiek, Iowa Capital Dispatch

“Damn!” That’s the instant reaction I had when I saw the breaking news alert that Dominion Voting Systems had settled its lawsuit with Fox “News.”

Like many of you, I was hoping to see the network’s managers and top anchors have to answer in person, under oath, and on the record, about the many lies they told in the days after the 2020 election.

Looking at it from Dominion’s perspective, it’s a great outcome. For a relatively small company, estimated to be worth between $30 million and $80 million, a $787.5 million settlement soothes over a lot of reputational damage.

The company’s top lawyer said Dominion was looking for accountability: $787 million dollars is a LOT of accountability. Dominion had already won the PR battle, exposing reams of emails, texts and oral depositions that easily proved Fox didn’t believe Trump’s election lies, yet they fed the lies to their conservative audience for fear of losing viewers to more conservative news networks. It’s doubtful that a trial would have made Fox look any worse than it already does.

But it sure would have been enjoyable to see experienced plaintiff’s lawyers taking apart smug anchors who ignore all journalistic ethics and then have the gall to try to hide behind the First Amendment. Those of us who have despised Fox “News” from the very beginning are robbed of the chance to finally see its comeuppance.

Fox both wins and loses. It must write a very large check. But it doesn’t have to apologize, doesn’t have to go on air and say anything about it. All Fox did was issue a weaselly statement: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

We acknowledge? Well, how very kind of them to nod in the direction of truth. Certain claims? That’s not what the judge said in a pretrial ruling. He wrote, “… it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.”

News organizations make mistakes sometimes. Anytime in my career when we made a mistake, we admitted it on air. We read retractions as many times as the mistakes aired. We offered apologies. We figured viewers understand that mistakes will happen. As much as I hated it when we screwed up, I felt that admitting a mistake ultimately builds trust with viewers.

Not that Fox made a “mistake” here. It was a deliberate campaign to build a false narrative, even though the top dogs didn’t believe any of it.

We all want more accountability, but I guess a lawsuit can only do so much. Moving forward, the real accountability rests with Fox viewers and advertisers. If enough viewers abandoned them as an untrustworthy source of news, and enough advertisers fled for fear of being associated with a news operation that lies, then we would have some real accountability. But if viewers continue to watch, and advertisers continue to write checks, I doubt anything substantively changes. Fox will continue to feed its audience what it wants to hear, rather than what it needs to hear.

One more quote from the Fox statement after the settlement: “We hope our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably … allows the country to move forward from these issues.”

I can think of a better way to help the country move on, and it’s taught in every first semester journalism class along with the five W’s and the H. Tell your viewers the truth. Get all sides of a story. If a public official is peddling conspiracy theories, ask for evidence before you put them on the air. Challenge those in power. And if you screw up, be courageous enough to go on air and admit it.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

In what’s become a trend of Republicans stiff-arming mainstream media outlets, the Iowa Republican Party last week denied a Cedar Rapids TV station entrance into the GOP’s election night party in downtown Des Moines.

KCRG-TV is the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids. It’s a fine news operation that provides quality coverage in eastern Iowa. On the day before the Nov. 8 election, the station learned it had been denied credentials to the Republican Party of Iowa’s election night event where all major GOP candidates would appear on camera.

According to a story on KCRG’s website, a Republican Party of Iowa spokesman claimed the room was at capacity and that priority was being given to Des Moines media outlets. KCRG news director Adam Carros said other media outlets from outside Des Moines were granted access, and he cried foul. “This is an unprecedented action in my 20+ years in TV news, 17 of it in Iowa,” Carros said. “I cannot recall a single instance a political party has blocked a local TV or newspaper outlet from its election night event in Iowa.”

That makes two of us. In 40 years of TV news experience in Iowa, I’ve never heard of this happening, either. I imagine it won’t be the last time.

Carros suspects it’s payback for Fact Check coverage the station did on political ads run by several Republican candidates. One of the stories criticized an ad from state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, the son of state GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann. Carros says the party repeatedly criticized KCRG’s coverage and refused to take part in the station’s previews of legislative races. “I have every reason to believe this is political retribution for our fact checks and other reporting the party deemed unfavorable.”

What possible gains can be made by denying a station the right to cover what turned into a huge victory party for the Iowa GOP? Although Republicans nationally didn’t experience the red wave they hoped for, in Iowa it was a red tsunami. Republicans now hold all Iowa seats in Congress, both houses of the Iowa Legislature, and they swept to victory in nearly every statewide office including governor, attorney general, treasurer, secretary of state and ag secretary. Only one statewide office, that of auditor, is too close to call.

From Republicans’ perspective, what a great story to tell! Why not shout it as loud as possible through every media outlet imaginable?

I wrote last month about how Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds did not respond when the Register offered the opportunity to write her own answers to a questionnaire.

Before her opponent was projected the winner of the Arizona governor’s race, Republican candidate Kari Lake – a former TV news anchor, for Pete’s sake – told reporters she planned to win, and not only serve four years, but eight. With reporters standing around her, Lake said “I’m gonna be your worst freaking nightmare for eight years, and we will reform the media as well. We’re gonna make you guys into journalists again. So get ready. It’s going to be a fun eight years. I can’t wait.”

Let’s get something straight. Reporters are supposed to do tough stories on people in power. Threats from Kari Lake, or stiff arming from Iowa Republicans, is not going to change that fact. After Nov. 8, EVERYONE in power in Iowa is a Republican. It’s clear they want to intimidate and bully media outlets into becoming lap dogs. To write glowing stories only. But it is not going to happen, and they know that. Their main goal is to score political points with their base. The media are an easy target.

Local TV news stations cannot turn into partisan outlets like Fox or MSNBC. They must continue to hit the ball down the middle of the fairway and do tough stories on those in power, regardless of party, regardless of complaints, and regardless of blacklisting.

In the end, KCRG grabbed a Des Moines station’s satellite feed of the Iowa Republican victory celebration, so viewers did not miss out. And in the next election cycle, Adam Carros and his team will continue to do Fact Checks on both Republican and Democratic candidates – with or without their cooperation.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.