OANN Vows to Appeal Dismissal of Defamation Suit Against MSNBC, Host Maddow

Viewers of Rachel Maddow's MSNBC program know it offers news but also liberal host Maddow's thoughts on that news, so a reasonable viewer wouldn't conclude her calling Herring Networks' One America News Network "really literally ... paid Russian propaganda" is an assertion of objective fact. That's according to U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of San Diego in an order Friday (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-01713). The judge granted a motion by defendants Maddow, Comcast, NBCUniversal and MSNBC to strike Herring's defamation suit under California's Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation law. Herring emailed us Tuesday a Friday statement that Maddow's description of his network "is demonstrably false" and it plans to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.