A Washington state judge handed Fox News a victory on Wednesday in a legal fight with a small nonprofit organization alleging the network’s early coverage of the coronavirus put viewers at risk.
On Wednesday, King County Superior Court Judge Brian McDonald granted Fox News’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics, which the network argued was a “frontal assault on the freedom of speech” that “flagrantly violates the First Amendment and fails to state a claim.”
WASHLITE filed its lawsuit last month, seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against Fox News that would prevent it from covering the pandemic. The suit argued the cable news network violated a state consumer protection statute, “claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax to subscribers of a private cable television system thereby deceiving Washington consumers” and raising the question of whether a cable news channel is entitled to First Amendment protections for content it broadcasts on a private cable television system owned by another entity.
Fox News, which received support from two prominent media consortiums, said a ruling in the plaintiff’s favor would set a precedent that is as “dangerous as it is frivolous.” Its motion to dismiss the case included a 61-page appendix showing Fox News’s on-air talent warning about the severity of the virus while pointing out commentary downplaying the outbreak from other media outlets, including CNN and the New York Times.
After hearing arguments last Thursday, the judge sided with Fox News, saying, “WASHLITE’s professed goal in this lawsuit — to ensure that the public receives accurate information about the coronavirus and COVID-19 — is laudable. However, the means employed here, a CPA claim against a cable news channel, runs afoul of the protections of the First Amendment.”
McDonald also pointed out that “the speech in this case involves matters of public concern that is at the heart of the First Amendment’s protection, and WASHLITE does not explain how its CPA claim in this case might fall under the few categories identified in Alvarez.”
WASHLITE’s legal representative, Cat Clark, told the Washington Examiner that it intended on filing an appeal but declined to comment further.
“Using a false portrayal of Fox News Channel’s commentary, WASHLITE attempted to silence a national news organization to settle a partisan grievance,” a representative for Fox News told the Washington Examiner. “This was not only wrong, but contemptuous of the foundation of free speech, and we are both pleased the court dismissed this frivolous case and grateful to the First Amendment community that rallied to our side.”
