DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Fox News says Carlson, Hannity, Bartiromo set to testify at defamation trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Fox personality Tucker Carlson speaks at the 2017 Business Insider Ignition: Future of Media conference in New York, U.S., November 30, 2017. Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old chair of Fox's parent Fox Corp (FOXA.O), is not on Fox's witness list. The Denver-based company has said emails, texts and depositions show that Fox aired false election claims to boost profit and keep viewers from defecting to the right-wing outlets Newsmax and OAN, which also embraced Trump's claims. "The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that (it) is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true," he wrote. Fox faces a similar lawsuit by another voting technology company, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant/File PhotoApril 3 (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood on Monday asked a state court judge in Utah to block a law set to take effect next month that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state. The case is before Judge Andrew Stone, who last year issued a preliminary order preventing the state from enforcing an earlier abortion ban while he hears a legal challenge by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood argued that Stone should block the newer law for the same reason, saying it would ban 95% of abortions in the state if allowed to take effect on May 3. "As promised, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is fighting back and doing everything in our power to make sure that Utahns can get the care they need to stay healthy," Sarah Stoez, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement. Twelve of the 50 U.S. states now ban abortion outright while many others prohibit it after a certain length of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.

☆ Morning after pill brand speeds up retail access, doubles supply per pack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The brand is also introducing a new 2-count pack of its emergency contraception (which has a three-year expiration period). Julie rolled out a new two-count pack of its emergency contraception priced at $70. Cleland said a study done last year by the American Society for Emergency Contraception on access to emergency contraception in stores compared price at retail for branded and generic emergency contraception options. “Every time there is a new development on restrictions to reproduction health care, there’s a run on emergency contraceptive. Our retail partners confirmed this,” said Morrison, adding that news events continue to influence buying patterns for emergency contraceptive.

☆ Judge rejects Fox motions, allows Dominion's $1.6 billion defamation suit to go to trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A Delaware judge on Friday said Dominion Voting's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. and its networks could go to trial in April. Judge Eric Davis of Delaware's Superior Court rejected Fox's arguments that it should bypass a trial since it's protected by the First Amendment. We look forward to going to trial," Dominion said late Friday afternoon. The former president, who was indicted Thursday in an unrelated criminal matter, has repeatedly made false claims about the election being rigged against him. The depositions of both Murdochs, as well as other Fox Corp. executives, are to be included in the trial, too.

Bad for business.”The email to Cooper was revealed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion Voting SystemsIn earlier court filings, the data about the Fox Nation subscriptions had been redacted. The messages underscore the panic that gripped Fox News in the wake of the 2020 election when its viewers rebelled against the channel for accurately calling the election for President Joe Biden. At the time, Powell, Giuliani and host Lou Dobbs were promoting debunked conspiracy theories that Dominion had rigged the 2020 election by flipping millions of votes. fox dominion email Dominion Voting Systems“Any day with Rudy and Sidney is guaranteed gold!” the Dobbs producer wrote.

☆ Dominion wants Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, other Fox News hosts to testify at trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Dominion's live witness list of Fox Corp .'s right-wing TV networks includes Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as former host Lou Dobbs and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, according to court papers. Dominion has pointed to 20 broadcasts in which they believe the hosts on Fox News and Fox Business repeated false claims of election fraud and continuously had on guests who repeated those claims. Documents, including text messages and emails, show Fox's TV hosts were skeptical of the election fraud claims being made on air. Dominion is also requesting the depositions of Fox Corp. executives, including Chairman Rupert Murdoch and CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as well as others, be included in the trial. "Dominion's needlessly expansive live witness list is yet another attempt to generate headlines and distract from the many shortcomings of its case.

☆ Wyoming abortion ban blocked due to Obamacare-era amendment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Abortion is legal in Wyoming again, oddly enough as the result of a state constitutional amendment pushed by conservatives opposed to Obamacare more than a decade ago. Anti-abortion lawmakers in Wyoming have tried to work around the 2012 amendment in passing the ban on abortion. The state's sweeping ban, dubbed "Life is a Human Right Act," claims that abortion is not a form of health care. It's unclear whether the court will ultimately agree that the anti-Obamacare amendment prohibits a state abortion ban. For instance, a judge in Ohio in October temporarily blocked the state's abortion ban because of a constitutional provision adopted in 2011 as a backlash to Obamacare.

☆ Biden's approval slips to 38%, near the lowest of his presidency, new poll says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden's approval rating dipped in a new poll released Thursday, approaching an all-time low for that survey as Americans give the Democrat poor marks on how he has handled the economy. Only 38% of respondents said they approve of the job Biden is doing, versus 61% who said they disapprove, according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Less than a third of Americans, 31%, approve of Biden's handling of the economy, according to the poll. It's a leap from Republicans though: Only 4% approve of what Biden is doing as president, and 3% approve his handling of the economy. Biden's all-time low approval of 36% in the AP-NORC poll was in July of last year.

☆ Supreme Court justices privately said the abortion leak locked in their votes on overturning Roe v. Wade: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Supreme Court justices privately revealed the leak locked their votes in on the abortion case. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the monumental case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, in December 2021. But on May 2, when Politico published a leaked draft opinion in the case, that debate stopped, Biskupic reported. Supreme Court investigators, after a months-long probe, failed to identify the source of the leak, according to report released in January. A Supreme Court public information officer did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Fox, Dominion urge judge to rule in $1.6 billion defamation suit ahead of April trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

However, Fox and Dominion didn't close up their arguments on Tuesday and will meet in court Wednesday morning. (Trump's false claims of election fraud are at the center of multiple criminal probes.) Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors parroted false fraud claims in the months following the election. Fox has consistently denied the claims it knowingly made false claims, and has argued it is protected by the First Amendment. These cases are often settled out of court or quickly dismissed by a court judge, but neither said has had such discussions, CNBC previously reported.

☆ Texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Dominion captured a number of texts that show Fox employees' apprehension about the growing conspiracy claims about the company's voting machines in the wake of the election. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

Murphy sought to provide context for the defamatory statements alleged by Dominion and argued that reasonable viewers understood that the claims aired on Fox News were mere allegations. The Fox News statements cited by Dominion included a Twitter post by former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs that included pro-Trump hashtags. Lawyer Justin Nelson answered no, saying Dominion's allegation is that Fox knew Trump's lawyers were going to make false claims but hosted them on its shows anyway. Abby Grossberg, who was head of booking for Fox News host Tucker Carlson, said coaching and intimidation by Fox lawyers before her deposition left her "feeling pressured not to name names or to implicate others, in particular prominent male on-air personalities and Fox News executives." Fox said in a statement on Tuesday that Grossberg's "allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims."

☆ Fox bosses ‘shut down’ fact checking with 2020 conspiracies, Dominion lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Dominion is suing Fox News over the right-wing channel’s airing of false claims of election fraud around the 2020 presidential election. Fox News argued that Dominion should instead rely on the “lengthy depositions” that these witnesses already gave. It claims Dominion hasn’t shown anything strong enough to overcome the high bar that the First Amendment provides, protecting good-faith journalists from speech-chilling defamation lawsuits. Dominion lawyer Rodney Smolla said its high-stakes defamation case against Fox News will protect the public discourse and hold accountable people who deliberately lied about the 2020 election. “They endorsed,” Murdoch said, referring to Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs.

☆ Fox News is unlikely to face pushback from professional journalism groups after court documents revealed it lied to viewers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The White House Correspondents' Association doesn't police member conduct, a former board member said. A number of professional organizations told Insider that Fox News fell well short of the standards expected in the profession. "Journalism receives significant protections from the First Amendment and with those protections come profound responsibilities," McCarran told Insider. Evidence made public in Dominion's lawsuit shows how Fox employees — beyond just hosts of opinion shows — had priorities other than telling their viewers the truth. "There are left-wing publications, right-wing publications, there are government-owned publications — there's Voice of America, foreign news organizations," the former board member said. "

☆ Senators relaunch bill seeking to force Supreme Court to televise sessions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading Republican senator on Thursday reintroduced a bill that seeks to compel the Supreme Court to televise its open court sessions live. A Supreme Court spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Supreme Court long has refused to allow cameras — TV or still — into oral arguments for cases or other proceedings. The new low was reached months after the Supreme Court finished a term considered one of the most controversial and consequential, marked by two rulings in particular. Durbin cited both cases in a statement Thursday calling for televised Supreme Court sessions.

☆ A man in Texas suing his ex-wife's friends for helping her get an abortion is the latest scare-tactic in the anti-abortion movement, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A man is suing his ex-wife's friends for $3 million, saying they helped her get an abortion. The lawsuit included texts in which the women discussed abortion pills, which are banned in Texas. "Delete all conversations from today," another one of the women said after some discussion about finding and taking abortion medication. The lawsuit is the latest in a number of conservative efforts to target abortion pills, including in Texas. "That includes CVS and Walgreens if their abortion pills find their way into our state."

☆ Kellogg's snacking unit, which includes Cheez-It and Pringles, gets a new name: Kellanova
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Kellogg brand Cheez-it crackers arranged at a supermarket in Dobbs Ferry, New York, US, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Kellogg Co. said it will split into three independent companies, sparking a rally in the food conglomerates shares. Kellogg on Wednesday revealed it will name its snacking unit Kellanova as part of its plan to separate into two independent public companies. Kellanova, which will include brands like Pringles and Cheez-Its, will retain the "K" stock ticker currently used by the food giant. The North American cereal unit will be renamed WK Kellogg Co.

☆ President Gavin Newsom Strikes at Walgreens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Gavin Newsom said he doesn’t plan to run for President in 2024, but the California Governor already seems to think he can dictate policy in the other 49 states. Consider his decision this week to punish Walgreens for complying with other state abortion laws. “California won’t be doing business with @walgreens—or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Mr. Newsom tweeted on Monday. Walgreens isn’t bowing to extremists. It’s trying to navigate a complicated legal and political thicket after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last summer turned abortion regulation back to the states.

The hundreds of pages of new documents include previously unreleased excerpts from key depositions, including Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, and are part of Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The transcript was part of a trove of text messages, emails, and other material from Fox News executives and on-air personalities that were made public Tuesday as part of Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the right-wing channel. “Do you believe that Dominion was engaged in a massive and coordinated effort to steal the 2020 presidential election?” Murdoch was asked by Dominion lawyers. The hundreds of pages of new documents that came out Tuesday include previously unreleased excerpts from key depositions, including Murdoch, and are part of Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Fox News has not only vigorously denied the claims, it has insisted it is “proud” of its 2020 election coverage.

☆ Rupert Murdoch testified that Fox News hosts lied about the 2020 election. Here's why it wasn't a misstep.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rupert Murdoch admitted Fox News hosts endorsed falsehoods about the 2020 election. Murdoch chairs Fox Corporation, which argues it isn't responsible for claims made on subsidiary Fox News. Here was the chair of Fox Corporation, a 91-year-old mogul atop a conservative media empire, admitting to lies that damaged democracy. When asked by Dominion's lawyers in a January deposition whether he thought Fox hosts were truthful about the election, Murdoch was candid. Fox Corporation also manages subsidiaries like Fox Sports, a large number of local TV stations, TMZ, Tubi, and a blockchain company.

☆ Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Police make requests for social media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed. ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx. Private content by users — such as location data or messages — requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before it can be turned over. She said because the platforms themselves are unlikely to prioritize user privacy, the burden to do so falls on the individual user. "All the angst directed social media services for being a pawn in law enforcement's game seems misdirected to me.

☆ Where Restrictions on Abortion Pills Could Matter Most
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Allison Mccann | Amy Schoenfeld Walker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Abortion providers in the United States A United States map shows the location of abortion providers in states without abortion bans. total abortions Medication abortions 71,700 61,500 58% 37,500 32,100 28,800 29,500 41% 61% 60% 51% 52% Florida New York Georgia Pa. Mich. N.C. N.J. Ohio Wash. Mass. Some ways the ruling could affect the availability of abortion pills A flowchart shows possible outcomes from a judge’s ruling and highlights how abortion pills could remain available under some scenarios. Even if the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, abortion pills could remain available. The foundation’s Wichita, Kansas, clinic sees more than 500 patients a month, many from Texas, and 60 percent choose abortion pills.

☆ Ted Cruz shouts over Merrick Garland about the DOJ's response to protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Ted Cruz pressed AG Merrick Garland over the DOJ's response to protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes. Cruz accused Garland and the DOJ of being politically biased. The Texas Republican condemned the protestors as rioters and extremists organizing harassment campaigns against the justices and accused Garland of inaction. Other Republicans on the committee, including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, similarly raised concerns about DOJ's handling of the protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes last year. "It's very clear that they're trying to influence in one way or another those serving on the United States Supreme Court," Lee said.

☆ Schumer, Jeffries pressure Murdoch, Fox News over Trump's false election fraud claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Trump has repeatedly spread false claims that the election was stolen from him. Earlier this week, Dominion filed court papers that revealed parts of the testimony from Murdoch and other top Fox Corp leadership. In his deposition, Murdoch acknowledged that some of Fox's top TV hosts endorsed false election fraud claims. When Murdoch was asked if he was "now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election," Murdoch responded, "Not Fox, no. Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election.

☆ The 10 biggest revelations from Dominion’s explosive Fox News legal filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Murdoch rejected that Fox News, as an entity, endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. They endorsed,” Murdoch said, according to the filing, when asked about the hosts’ promotion of false claims about the election. ► Behind the scenes, Paul Ryan repeatedly warned the Murdochs to stop allowing the spread of election lies. “Maybe best to let Bill go right away,” which would “be a big message with Trump people” the filing said. These documents reveal that Fox News executives and hosts knew the truth and yet they peddled election lies to the audience.

Search resuls for: "Dobbs"

25 mentions found