Fox News rebuked the legal arguments a nonprofit organization is using in its lawsuit against the network for its coverage of the coronavirus.
The Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics filed a lawsuit seeking a judicial gag order against Fox News’s opinion personalities last month, citing its coverage of the coronavirus. Shortly thereafter, the outlet filed a motion to dismiss the suit, and in response, both the plaintiff and defense have filed subsequent motions to pad their arguments.
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Fox News submitted a filing on Monday in response to one filed by WASHLITE last week. The plaintiffs questioned whether a cable news channel was entitled to First Amendment protections for content it broadcasts on a private cable television system owned by another entity and whether it violated a state consumer protection law “claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax to subscribers of a private cable television system thereby deceiving Washington consumers.”
Fox’s filing argued the precedent that would be established by a ruling in WASHLITE’s favor “would allow the government to censor not just Fox News but also CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, ESPN, and every other cable network. That is as dangerous as it is frivolous.”
“Undeterred by black-letter law, plaintiffs seek to mask bad facts by arguing that the Court cannot look at the actual transcripts of the speech they distort and attack. Plaintiffs’ argument does not lack chutzpah, but it also belies their account of the facts,” read the filing, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner. “They cannot hide that their assault on the First Amendment rests on a false portrayal of what Fox’s commentary actually said. Fortunately, in all events, the Constitution protects Fox’s speech even accepting the Complaint’s distortions.”
The filing also addressed WASHLITE’s argument that the network violated a state consumer protection law by “claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax to subscribers of a private cable television system thereby deceiving Washington consumers.”
“Plaintiffs argue (at 29) that this principle applies only to newspapers, not cable media, but that distinction is just as nonsensical under the CPA as it is under the First Amendment,” Fox’s filing read. The CPA authorizes lawsuits only by those “injured in [their] business or property,” according to the filing, and it dismissed allegations from WASHLITE that some of their members suffered financial or health problems as a result of the network’s coverage.
WASHLITE filed sworn testimony from four employees in the group’s filing last week.
King County Superior Court Judge Brian McDonald will hear additional arguments over the motion to dismiss later this week. He could make a ruling at that time.
