Fox News and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Both Canada and the UK have banned Fox News.  Obviously, this is a far trickier subject in the United States, given our First Amendment rights to free speech.  Yet, there are several kinds of speech that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled unprotected, some of which are germane to this subject.

One such form of unprotected speech is defamation, i.e., the spreading of lies that result in damage to the reputation and viability of a person or group.  This is the basis on which Dominion Voting Systems launched its $1.3 billion law suit, given that Fox and others have alleged, without evidence, that Dominion rigged the election in favor of Biden.  One co-defendant in the case, Newsmax, has publicly retracted its statements, and the plaintiff dropped them from the complaint.

Language that is meant to incite violence is another type of speech that is not protected under the First Amendment. It could be argued that a great deal of the content on Fox fits this category, e.g., their supporting Trump’s claim that the election was rigged, and that all patriot Americans should go to the Capitol and “fight like hell to take our country back,” and that “trial by combat” is required.  As a result, 500+ hateful morons are facing charges that range from misdemeanor illegal entry to felonies like sedition that carry 20 years imprisonment.

Fraud is a third.  As Fox rushes to admits when it’s in legal jeopardy for things like defamation and incitement, they are not “news” as it’s normally defined, but rather a collection of opinions broadcasted as entertainment.  According to Oxford dictionary, “News is newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events usually a broadcast or published report not previously known to someone.” The implication here is that the “news” must be true.   If Fox News were to substitute any other word in the English language for “news,” no one would have a problem with their lies and misleading statements.

I’m sure Canada and the UK would happily accept Fox onto its airwaves if they called themselves “Fox World” or “Fox Viewpoints,” or any similar derivative.