Fox News Settles Suit With Family of Murdered DNC Staffer Seth Rich

Fox News has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of Seth Rich, the former Democratic National Committee staffer who was at the center of right-wing conspiracies about hacked emails after he was shot in 2016.

Joel and Mary Rich said in a statement that they were “pleased” by the agreement, and said they hoped the media would exercise greater caution in the future.

“The settlement with Fox News closes another chapter in our efforts to mourn the murder of our beloved Seth, whom we miss every single day,” they said. “It allows us to move on from the litigation we initiated in response to Fox News’ May 2017 article and televised statements concerning Seth’s murder. We are pleased with the settlement of this matter and sincerely hope that the media will take genuine caution in the future.”

The parties filed a joint notice dismissing the case in federal court in New York on Tuesday.

Fox issued a rare retraction in 2017 of a story it had published about Rich’s murder, noting that it was “not initially subjected to [a] high degree of editorial scrutiny.” After Rich was killed, outlets including Breitbart and the Drudge Report suggested his murder could have been retribution for the link of DNC emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The retraction was believed to be one of the first made of a Fox News story.