This piece is exactly right. Sure, it would have been great if Dominion's lawsuit went to trial and the likes of Sean Hannity testified under oath about how he is a big fat liar, followed by a scathing court judgment excoriating Fox News. But: (1) even if there was trial, the testimony would not have gone down the way we imagine it (it never does), (2) court proceedings, especially ones with juries, are inherently unpredictable so Fox exoneration was also possible, and (3) a scathing court decision would not have changed much--there are already lots of scathing takes on Fox News, and any monetary judgment will inevitably feel inadequate, just like the settlement does.
The value of the Dominion lawsuit for the general public was always the discovery process. And because Fox wouldn't settle much earlier, it went through the whole thing. That meant months of embarrassing revelations about what an utter travesty Fox News is. It didn't convince any of the Fox News diehards, but nothing would have done that. I think in terms of the longer-term project of discrediting Fox News with the public at large, the lawsuit did what it could. It didn't entirely take down Fox on its own, but it could never realistically do that.
Plus, this is not the only defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Smartmatic's lawsuit is still coming. And Dominion's success is just going to encourage more companies or individuals smeared by Fox's lies to bring their own actions.
