Fox News Will Not Change

Lobsters for the Brisket.

By , and

The Dominion lawsuit denouement leaves (almost) everyone feeling shortchanged. Two ex Fox News pundits and licensed attorney debate whether Fox dug itself into a hole. Plus:

-A march to default

-The DeSantis’ EQ issue

-Trump’s coming in hot with endorsements

Create a free account
Access additional articles and newsletters for no cost, no credit card information needed. Continue ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
By , and
Comments (79)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Alicia

    i am a digital nomad, currently traveling in mexico and i cannot tell you the number of times i've been presented with a QR only to then have to beg for a wifi password to get access said QR code.

    Collapse
  2. Ajaterp05

    I really don't understand this sorta both sideism going on. The issue isn't if Biden should or shouldn't negotiate with republicans. It's that only one party is using the debt ceiling as a hostage to negotiate for policies they want to enact while in the minority. The same thing they did in 2011 to Obama. Are there any examples of democrats doing this? Maybe next time the roles are reversed Dems should threaten to not raise the debt limit unless the GOP raises taxes on the wealthy.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Rajeev

    The QR code is as unnecessary as the automatic paper towel dispenser in the restaurant bathrooms.

    Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Treadmill

    Re: QR code menus,
    I find myself of the opinion that the large, plastic, last-updated-during-the-Carter-administration menu is the categorical worst of all worlds.
    For me, it all comes down to the purpose of the outing, and if I'm going out to a sit-down, waited-upon dining facility, it will generally fall into one of two categories:
    1) special date-night fancy-pants affair
    2) drinks and nibbles to catch up with a friend

    for (1) I want a limited, curated menu that could fit on a notecard and a waiter that can tell me the rest.
    for (2) I want a qr code so we get left the eff alone until I want another beer delivered.

    In both cases, I want fewer obstacles. Huge menus on tables are a bigger distraction than cell phones. I'm an adult who can (and does) put my phone in my pocket when I'm out with another adult. Respectfully, I disagree with the premise that I lack so much agency that looking at a menu on my little glowing rectangle inevitably and invariably opens the door to an evening of doom-scrolling in the company of my increasingly-annoyed dinner date.

    I also like the QR code for a couple of reasons and use-cases: menus that change with high frequency, like breweries or farm-to-table hippie affairs (for which I have a soft spot), as well as locations with a great many small tables who would have surely been shuttered by the lack of wait staff (looking at you Caboose Commons in Fairfax). I will admit that the devil is often in the details when it comes to technology, and I've seen higher-friction and lower-friction implementations in various settings.

    I think I've overrun my hyphen quota, so that's all I'll say.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Jeff Walden

    Sarah! Don't harsh the puns. This is Steve Hayes. He has his ways.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    With regret for crushing a fantasy that Mr. Hayes apparently shared with Mr. Catoggio regarding how the Fox News trial would have played out but for the last-minute settlement, I take the liberty of reposting here a comment I left on one of Mr. Catoggio's recent columns:

    =======

    Because the Delaware state courts' subpoena powers don't extend past its state line, neither Fox nor Dominion could count on being able to compel the attendance of any uncooperative or even neutral out-of-state witness. Each side could plan for who, among its own employees and cooperative witnesses, it might want to call as live witnesses at trial. But for everyone else, the lawyers have to presume that there will be no live witnesses who're showing up pursuant to the compulsion of a trial subpoena since every such potential witness lives outside Delaware. And therefore, for a trial like this one in a place like Delaware, they had to have all of the compelled testimony they'd need for their respective cases-in-chief already "in the can" — captured on video during pretrial depositions — for playback in front of the jury.

    And this trial wasn't being televised anyway.

    Which is to say: Mr. Catoggio's fantasy here (a common one! and for good reason!) about what fun it would have been to watch — or even simply read later about — Fox News' TV personalities and executives being raked across the coals on the witness stand was probably never realistic. If the case had proceeded to trial instead of settling, Dominion surely would have offered copious video deposition testimony from Fox witnesses. But 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽, and Fox probably much preferred the prospect of limiting its risks at trial by keeping such volatile and damaging witnesses present anywhere EXCEPT within the subpoena power of the Delaware state courts.

    As for the fantasy that in some universe a company pays this kind of money and ALSO gives an admission of wrongdoing: That's just stupid. No one should have ever expected that to happen as part of any settlement. The defendant is buying its peace — which includes the preclusion of the possibility of a court judgment conclusively establishing particular facts and matters against it. I've practiced civil litigation for 43 years now and I can't think of a single settlement that has included the sort of "admission" that Mr. Catoggio somehow imagined Fox would be obliged, under the terms of a voluntary settlement, to make.

    Collapse
  7. Francislyo

    Jonah makes compelling points that the debt ceiling tactic is a threat it is to our nation and economy: that it could aid China et al in unseating the dollar as the reserve currency, that it is a very banana republicy way to handle your finances and warning against “Incentive structures such that individual players benefit where the system as a whole loses “. And JohnF’s comments include an enumeration of the legislative (rather than performative) process for accomplishing budget reduction. Thank you!

    No. Biden should not conduct budget negotiations with Republicans under threat of government shutdown. Caving -> MAGA wins, no one else.

    To cave to the debt ceiling tactic would be somewhere between negotiating with terrorists and giving into a 2-yr old’s temper tantrums.

    Caving to MAGA is how the Republican party got to where it is today, with an insurrectionist leading the party and campaigning against candidates who could actually win an election, while almost all the other Republican leaders tippy toe around him and many kiss his ring.

    If we want MAGA rule to end we will have to stop calling for placating them and caving to their tantrums.

    Collapse
  8. Ellison Scudder

    Hi - while your predictions often come true, I'm glad the prediction that is the title of this podcast (Fox News will Not Change) has been turned out to be rather quickly, and thankfully, debunked.
    https://press.foxnews.com/2023/04/fox-news-media-and-tucker-carlson-part-ways

    I'm guessing on this Friday's pod, The Dispatch will issue its most regret-free retraction??? :)

    Thanks for all you do for our national conversation. It's a breath of fresh sanity...

    Collapse
  9. Mkliegman

    It's widely assumed (I gather correctly) that NY Times v Sullivan applies to the Dominion-Fox defamation suit. As I recall, the "actual malice" standard applies only if the defamed person is a public official. How does Dominion fit in that category? (This was presumably discussed on Advisory Opinions at some point, and I confess I don't listen to them faithfully).

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    George.Skinner

    QR code menus are pretty good - it's easy for restaurants to keep the menu up to date, show specials, provide more information. It's even better when they integrate ordering and paying your bill. I first encountered that in pubs in Glasgow in 2019, and it was fantastic - no more flagging down a server to order or pay your bill. You'd just place the order on your mobile device, and it'd be delivered to your table. Pre-pandemic, I'd also noticed a number of restaurants had moved to providing guests with a tablet to look at the menu rather than deal with paper menus. As for the problem of people playing on their phones instead of interacting at the table - that's on you, not the restaurant or the device. Put the damn phone away.

    Collapse
Load More