A Court Ruled Rachel Maddow's Viewers Know She Offers Exaggeration and Opinion,

[Ptarmigan]

A Court Ruled Rachel Maddow's Viewers Know She Offers Exaggeration and Opinion, Not Facts
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/a-court-ruled-rachel-maddows-viewers

MSNBC's top-rated host Rachel Maddow devoted a segment in 2019 to accusing the right-wing cable outlet One America News (OAN) of being a paid propaganda outlet for the Kremlin. Discussing a Daily Beast article which noted that one OAN reporter was a "Russian national” who was simultaneously writing copy for the Russian-owned outlet Sputnik on a freelance contract, Maddow escalated the allegation greatly into a broad claim about OAN's real identity and purpose: “in this case,” she announced, “the most obsequiously pro-Trump right wing news outlet in America really literally is paid Russian propaganda."

In response, OAN sued Maddow, MSNBC, and its parent corporation Comcast, Inc. for defamation, alleging that it was demonstrably false that the network, in Maddow's words, “literally is paid Russian propaganda." In an oddly overlooked ruling, an Obama-appointed federal judge, Cynthia Bashant, dismissed the lawsuit on the ground that even Maddow's own audience understands that her show consists of exaggeration, hyperbole, and pure opinion, and therefore would not assume that such outlandish accusations are factually true even when she uses the language of certainty and truth when presenting them (“literally is paid Russian propaganda").

In concluding that Maddow's statement would be understood even by her own viewers as non-factual, the judge emphasized that what Maddow does in general is not present news but rather hyperbole and exploitation of actual news to serve her liberal activism:

On one hand, a viewer who watches news channels tunes in for facts and the goings-on of the world. MSNBC indeed produces news, but this point must be juxtaposed with the fact that Maddow made the allegedly defamatory statement on her own talk show news segment where she is invited and encouraged to share her opinions with her viewers. Maddow does not keep her political views a secret, and therefore, audiences could expect her to use subjective language that comports with her political opinions.

Thus, Maddow’s show is different than a typical news segment where anchors inform viewers about the daily news. The point of Maddow’s show is for her to provide the news but also to offer her opinions as to that news. Therefore, the Court finds that the medium of the alleged defamatory statement makes it more likely that a reasonable viewer would not conclude that the contested statement implies an assertion of objective fact.

The courts had to rule that Rachel Maddow is not expressing facts.

[Zathras]

A Court Ruled Rachel Maddow's Viewers Know She Offers Exaggeration and Opinion, Not Facts
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/a-court-ruled-rachel-maddows-viewers

The courts had to rule that Rachel Maddow is not expressing facts.

That's because those who watch her(?) believe everything she(?) says is fact.

[Drafe Hoblin]

During and since 2019, she's been limping around, having taken a huge torpedo-hit from the Trump tax-reveal scandal.  Never breaking any news.  Never quoted because she's never insightful.  Lesbian so what-ism threatening to spill-over into every paragraph of conversation.  What a mess... 

I'll never forget the balloon-punctured look on her face...  " Trump made 100-million in (blah blah, whatever the time-frame was)... and he only paid 29.5-million ??!!??!  ... "     

[Eupher]

During and since 2019, she's been limping around, having taken a huge torpedo-hit from the Trump tax-reveal scandal.  Never breaking any news.  Never quoted because she's never insightful.  Lesbian so what-ism threatening to spill-over into every paragraph of conversation.  What a mess... 

I'll never forget the balloon-punctured look on her face...  " Trump made 100-million in (blah blah, whatever the time-frame was)... and he only paid 29.5-million ??!!??!  ... "   

Mrs. E has that scrunt on every night. Needless to say, I am not in the room when she watches that shit.

[ADsOutburst]

I've never watched an entire Maddow show, but in the snippets I have seen, she always seemed like she was more interested in being snarky than saying anything meaningful.