Fox News has some very serious legal issues to consider after making several comments about France and their practices. The comments were damaging to the image of the country. Fox News related a story that neighborhoods with high Muslim populations was unpoliced and crime runs rampant in those places.
The validity of these claims is under scrutiny; however, the government of France is bringing a lawsuit against them in order to gain reparations for the damage that was done. Fox does not claim responsibility for defamation of character and do not believe that a lawsuit is realistic in this case.
According to CNN, if France were to bring a suit against the company via their court system, Fox could pay a much higher price than if France were to seek defamation in the United States. The laws in that country are much stricter for this type of thing than in the U.S. and are not merely considered a civil suit. It is considered a criminal action there.
A defense against defamation could be extremely costly for Fox News, but they do not appear to take it seriously enough to think about a defense. It might be in their best interest to do so, just to stay on the side of caution.
This is not the first time that the news station has been accused of out and out lying in order to make headlines more fascinating. CNN states that Fox has been lying about nearly every subject for many years. It might be in Fox’s best interest to seek the best possible defense just in case the French decide they have had enough.