I agree they are liberal to the core, but I think they are learning if you pay out on sex scandals the beasts come of out the woodwork for more and that is the lesson (i think) they are learning. They most definitely want any conservative voice silenced but they know money is the mothers milk to make all the rest work.
If money from network and cable news was important to the elite rich globalists, then the NY Times, CNN, and all the rest would have become more balanced long ago.
The rich elite who run things are perfectly willing to have loss leaders ie propaganda outlets - it’s just a cost of staying in power.
O’Reilly’s sponsors bowed to pressure from Soros & others of that ilk, who used bots and other tactics to flood them with complaints and boycott crap. So that is where money entered into the equation.
Soros, Media Matters, and their ilk, clearly will continue to try to eliminate alternative sources of news. The CIA controls the major news outlets here and abroad. Already Google, Facebook, and You tube are acting to take down alternative news such as Drudge, Breitbart, etc.
Free Speech is under attack like I have never seen in my lifetime. Goebbels would be proud.
As far as settling lawsuits - that’s true, and it is also the reality of the system these days. The insurance companies will settle because it’s cheaper than fighting. Then the “news” can imply that the defendant was guilty, because they settled.