This Is Why Gavin Newsom Is Suing Fox News For $787 Million And An Apology

Forbes

4 hours ago

MONTEREY PARK, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 26: California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at East Los Angeles ... More College on February 26, 2025 (Photo by)
Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he is suing Fox News for $787 million and an apology. This is why he is doing it.
Newsom, the governor of California, declared 'no more lies' in a tweet on Friday when he announced he is suing Fox News. He later said, 'bring it on' in reference to the lawsuit while posting this image from the court filing showing himself (in his personal capacity) as the plaintiff and Fox News as the defendant.
Gavin Newsom posted this image with words, "Bring it on."
Background: Newsom, Trump and Fox News.
The core of the case is that Newsom says Donald Trump lied about the date the two of them had a phone conversation. Then, according to Newsom, Fox news repeatedly accused him of lying in an effort to bolster Trump's version of events.
Gavin Newsom says that things got so bad with Fox News accusing him of lying about the call that he started getting phone calls from friends asking him why he was lying about the Trump call. Newsom says that he never lied about the call.
He accuses Trump of lying and is now suing Fox News for elevating this lie on its network and for defaming him in the process.
This is Why Gavin Newsom filed suit against Fox News.
Gavin Newsom conducted a round of interviews Friday where he detailed the events that led to him suing Fox News. Here are highlights from two such interviews.
During an interview with Terry Moran, Newsom said that, 'you can't maliciously slander someone—you can't defame someone—by altering facts, editing facts, knowingly doing that without being held to some higher level of ethics and accountability.'
Newsom referenced the Dominion lawsuit and opined that while Fox had settled the case, the company failed to fundamentally change its practices.
More than two years ago, Fox News and Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a groundbreaking defamation lawsuit. Dominion Voting Systems asserted that Fox had pushed lies and conspiracies and accused its company of rigging voting machines to hurt Trump during the 2020 election.
The settlement was made after the jury had been selected and mere hours before the actual trial was set to begin.
Gavin Newsom went on to tell Moran that he had been on the receiving end of Fox for 'years and years' and that he did not do this (file the lawsuit) lightly.
During the interview, Newsom said, "I got a bunch of calls. Terry this is actually why this happened." He went on to share that he had received a bunch of calls from friends asking him, 'why did you lie about the Trump call?"
This was when Newsom said it had become clear to him that lies against him were breaking through even beyond the Fox audience and causing real damage. Though he said he had known the network to lie, this time was different according to Newsom. This time Fox News had clearly 'crossed a red line.'
During an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Gavin Newsom shared that he is suing Fox News in his personal capacity and proceeded to detail his reason for taking legal action. Newsom tells Cohen the following,
Newsom said the Fox News Chyron said 'Gavin lied...'
Newsom said Fox News put up a chyron that said, 'Gavin lied about Trump—the call.' During his interview with Terry Moran, Newsom said,
Newsom describes Fox as purporting to be a news organization with journalist when, in his opinion, it's a propaganda network instead.
Ultimately, Gavin Newsom says that he filed the lawsuit against Fox News because two of its anchors (Jesse Watters and John Roberts) defamed him, and this defamation has caused him harm that compels him to defend himself.
Governor Newsom Accuses Fox News of Defamation: What Does it Mean?
PBS, a non-profit media enterprise in the United States, defines defamation as, 'any false information that harms the reputation of a person, business, or organization. Defamation includes both libel and slander. Libel generally refers to defamatory statements that are published or broadcast (more permanent) while slander refers to verbal defamatory statements (more fleeting).'
The organization informs that defamation allegations can present legal challenges for media organizations.
Reputation and Leadership Implications for Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom is pushing for the network to be held accountable for what he describes as unethical and unprofessional behavior that causes harm to him and others.
It's apparent from the Newsom interviews that he is frustrated with having his integrity—and hence his leadership principles—put to question in this manner. As a result, Newsom says he is compelled to push back strongly against Fox News to ultimately defend his integrity and buttress his leadership values.
Finally, Newsom makes clear that he wants Fox News to recant and apologize for what he deems defamatory behavior. He also wants the organization to recognize that it must hold its employees and anchors to higher ethical and professional standards going forward.
Recommended reading:
This Is How To Be An Effective Decision Maker: A Leadership Imperative
10 Things Too Risky To Delegate: Tasks Executives Should Handle Themselves
Evaluate Your Career Legacy Impact With These 3 Categories Of Questions
This Is Why Shepard Smith Ended His Career With Fox News