CNN’s Jake Tapper stridently referred to Fox News paying $787.5 million Tuesday to settle a looming legal case about Fox News’ false characterizations of Dominion Voting Systems’ equipment in regard to the 2020 election as “one of the ugliest and most embarrassing moments in the history of journalism.”Tapper had a harder time reading Fox’s statement about the deal that came after a jury was seated and the trial was about to start. Watch the clip below, with his comments starting at the 30-second mark.“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute…,” Tapper read before he paused and repeated the word “dispute” with a chuckle before continuing, “…with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects…” Tapper paused again here and told viewers, “I’m sorry this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face,” before continuing, “This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our dec-” Tapper broke off and laughed before regaining his composure and continuing with the statement. “We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”Fox News, in turn, shared the following thoughts about Tapper’s reaction with Deadline: “We can’t look at CNN’s awful ratings without laughing and we’re sure Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders feel the same way.”CNN went on with coverage of the settlement for some time before moving back to a story related to the recent Pentagon intel leak and Russia’s dentition of a U.S. journalist — who happens works for the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal.MSNBC stayed with coverage of the Fox settlement into the evening hours, Eastern time.Fox News did not immediately mention the settlement on-air, sticking with a discussion of personal finance with Dave Ramsey, before segueing into a segment with Howard Kurtz about the verdict.Kurtz said the amount of the settlement had not been disclosed and read Fox’s statement He added, “Much of the media was looking forward to six weeks of — frankly a lot of people in the mainstream media, anti-Fox…are now going to be deprived of that opportunity.” Cavuto later cut in briefly to report the amount of the settlement.Fox Business Network, for its part, was covering a story labeled “Biden’s War on Fossil Fuel.”To its credit, Fox News also aired a big segment with Kurtz about the trial in the morning.
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