OAN parent company ordered to pay Rachel Maddow and MSNBC $250k over failed defamation case

The parent company of the One America News Network, the far-right channel which has peddled conspiracy theories about voter fraud, has been ordered to pay MSNBC and one of its most high profile hosts Rachel Maddow $250,000 in legal fees for a failed defamation lawsuit. 

Herring Networks accused Maddow in 2019 of defaming OAN because she brought up a story concerning an OAN reporter also contributing content to Sputnik, the Russian state news agency.

Herring Networks wanted $10m in damages after Maddow said that OAN was "paid Russian propaganda".

Judge Cynthia Bashant struck down the case in May last year, saying there was “no set of facts that could support a claim for defamation based on Maddow’s statement". California Judge Allison Goddard ruled on Friday that Herring must pay $250,000, The Huffington Post reported. 

Herring Networks President Charles Herring told website Law&Crime that “the case is currently under appeal".

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The law used by the MSNBC lawyers to beat back the lawsuit is called anti-SLAPP and stands for Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. A SLAPP-suit is defined as a lawsuit intended to burden the defendant with legal costs to get them to give up a line of criticism that they are pursuing. The suit is supposedly intended to intimidate, censor, and silence critics, with no expectation of winning the lawsuit. 

"California's anti-SLAPP statute is intended to 'provide a procedural remedy to dispose of lawsuits that are brought to chill the valid exercise of constitutional rights'," according to the ruling. SLAPP-suits are considered to be a threat to the first amendment, which guarantees the right to self-expression. 

OAN may be facing its own defamation problems after it aired a two-hour video from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell several times. The video was filled with baseless conspiracy theories about the election being rigged and placed blame on electronic voting system companies Dominion and Smartmatic, according to the Huffington Post. 

A disclaimer was added to the video calling it "opinion" and that the network didn't stand behind it, adding that the claims "are not intended to be taken or interpreted by the viewer as established facts". 

Dominion lawyer Thomas Clare told Law&Crime: “Nice try by OAN, but it definitely does not relieve them of liability. To the contrary, we warned them specifically and in writing that they would be broadcasting false and defamatory statements of fact if they broadcast the programme, and they made the affirmative decision to disregarded that warning and broadcast it anyway.”

The Independent reported late last month that Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, following months of baseless assertions from the Trump lawyer that the company’s systems were rigged in favour of the Democrats during the election.

Earlier this month, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, as well as Rudy Giuliani and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, after the network ran numerous reports which alleged the firm conspired with Venezuela’s socialist government to steal the 2020 elections from Mr Trump. 

Despite calling the suit meritless, Fox News cancelled Lou Dobbs Tonight, whose host Mr Dobbs has forcefully supported Mr Trump's discredited election challenges.