Far-right disinformation outlet One America News (OAN) frequently peddles lies to supporters of former President Donald Trump, who eagerly endorses the network for its constant defense of his policies and diatribes.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, in 2018, called out Trump's strange alliance with OAN after the Daily Beast reported that one of its reporters, Kristian Brunovich Rouz, was also writing for Sputnik, a Russian state-owned news network.
Maddow said of the report:
"We literally learned today that that outlet the President is promoting shares staff with the Kremlin. I mean, what?… [T]he most obsequiously pro-Trump right wing news outlet in America really literally is paid Russian propaganda. Their on-air U.S. politics reporter is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda for that government."
OAN responded by suing Maddow for libel in a case that was thrown out in May of 2020. The network had requested $10 million in damages.
Now, OAN's case was dealt another damning blow after being tossed out on appeal. Rather than getting millions from Maddow and MSNBC, the network will likely have to pay upwards of $250 thousand in legal fees for dragging out the process.
Two years ago, @maddow said OAN was "Russian propaganda." OAN sued for $10 million.\n\nToday, an appeals court said "Maddow\u2019s statement was well within the bounds of what qualified as protected speech under the First Amendment."\n\nOAN will pay MSNBC $250,000 to reimburse legal feespic.twitter.com/ac1UF7E6uL— Jan Wolfe (@Jan Wolfe) 1629214835
The ruling, issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, reads in part:
"Turning to the merits, the panel held that Maddow's statement was well within the bounds of what qualified as protected speech under the First Amendment. The challenged statement was an obvious exaggeration, cushioned with an undisputed news story. The statement could not reasonably be understood to imply as an assertion of objective fact, and therefore, did not amount to defamation."
People weren't sympathetic to OAN.
Someone just got @OANN\u2019ed in court today\u2026https://twitter.com/jannwolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— Direct Action Ryan\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Direct Action Ryan\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1629221778
You would think OAN would be a little more circumspect about urging expansive interpretations of defamation law\u2026https://twitter.com/jannwolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— Julian Sanchez (@Julian Sanchez) 1629217937
Oh @OANN , sounds like you are having a bad day....lmfao....https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0fScott Elliston\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0fScott Elliston\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1629225402
And OAN is still Russian propaganda!! They will get wrecked when they go to court against Dominion Voting Systems!https://twitter.com/jannwolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— The QOP Are Seditious Hypocrites (@The QOP Are Seditious Hypocrites) 1629215291
Womp, womp.https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— Buffy's Blog (@Buffy's Blog) 1629215336
Well well well. https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/AHD7vIiMwi— Courtney K \ud83d\udce2 (@Courtney K \ud83d\udce2) 1629218676
Several people celebrated the development.
Hooray! OAN is Russian propaganda, let it be known.https://twitter.com/jannwolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— Jules (@Jules) 1629216822
Ha! Go Maddow, go!!https://twitter.com/jannwolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— ~Kim~\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6in\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\ude37 (@~Kim~\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6in\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\ude37) 1629223050
Truth prevails...and that is good.https://twitter.com/JanNWolfe/status/1427656612408446977\u00a0\u2026— ninigirl (@ninigirl) 1629215799
The $250 thousand sum pales in comparison to what OAN could be paying in defamation damages to election software companies the network falsely claimed facilitated election fraud to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC