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00:00 to discuss this more now in more detail. We're joined by Frederick Davis, former
00:03 federal prosecutor and member of the New York and Paris bars on the line from
00:08 New York. Thanks very much for joining us this evening. Well as we've heard
00:12 interestingly in the past minutes this case has been settled. What have we
00:17 heard so far? Well I'm following what's in the same news feed you are. I just found out it
00:22 settled maybe three or four minutes ago so I have yet to hear the amounts or the
00:26 terms. I guess my quick reactions are two. One is I think this is a smart move for
00:32 Fox News for reasons that may not be relevant anymore. I think the case
00:37 against them was uncommonly strong and that the trial would have been a huge
00:41 embarrassment for them having all sorts of internal emails discussed, having
00:46 Rupert Murdoch probably testify. And second I think you know the settlement
00:51 itself I had thought it would not settle because they will have to at least
00:58 implicitly and maybe explicitly admit that what they were telling their
01:03 viewers in the fall of 2000 was wrong. 2020 was wrong and what we saw was they
01:09 didn't want to tell the truth to their viewers during the election of 2020
01:13 because they started losing viewers when they started you know reflecting that
01:19 Biden really had won. People hung up on them and went to another channel so
01:23 Rupert Murdoch says you got to stop that. So it'll be interesting to see how they
01:27 settled the degree to which they admitted that they had been misleading
01:31 their own viewers and kind of what their reaction will be. I'm really looking
01:36 forward to seeing that. On the other hand we heard that the trial was originally
01:40 supposed to start on Monday and it was delayed in order to find hopefully a
01:43 last-minute settlement. That's come today when the actual trial has already opened.
01:47 To what extent is this an example of Dominion perhaps not feeling as
01:52 confident as it may have? Well we'll see. I frankly doubt it. Everything I know
01:57 about their you know their lawyers now they prepared this case which they've
02:01 done meticulously. They got some actually some good news this morning namely the
02:06 judge appointed a special master to look in to the degree to which Fox had not
02:13 been fair in terms of their discovery. So look every case settles meaning
02:18 you know neither side gets exactly what they want. So Dominion obviously ended up
02:23 accepting a deal that was not 100% of what they wanted and they saved on the
02:29 risk and they saved on the cost. But I will be surprised if this can be
02:33 painted as anything other than sort of a shocking defeat for Fox. We'll have to
02:39 see. That's my that's my that's certainly my guess right this minute. And just the
02:43 latest news we're getting the they have not yet detailed how much this
02:47 settlement was for so that will be we'll be getting to it as and when we get it.
02:51 The question still remains even before the trial what sort of implications
02:56 could this have for for press freedom in the US? I'll tell you my view and I've
03:01 done a certain amount of press work I've actually represented companies in libel
03:07 defamation cases. My personal view is that this case would not have had a huge
03:11 impact on press freedoms. The notion of press freedom is you should have a
03:16 liberty to say anything for which there's an actual basis for believing
03:21 that is true and that there should be some flexibility on that. This struck a
03:27 bunch of people in the industry including many people who strongly
03:32 defend press freedoms and press rights as a as a company that just stepped over
03:38 the line. And when you when your guiding principle is we are going to report not
03:44 what we think is true or have reason to believe is true we're going to report
03:47 what our audience wants to hear that's not journalism that's something else. And
03:53 I so my view is is that this is an important case I did not view it as a
03:58 threat to press freedom. Okay Mr. Frederick Davis former US federal
04:02 prosecutor thank you very much for your insight on this news that we have just
04:07 been getting updates on and of course we'll keep you up to date with them as
04:09 we get them here in Paris.