A high-stakes lawsuit for Fox News after lying about the 2020 US presidential election

Will Fox News Pay More to Give Credibility to the Fake Theory That the 2020 US Presidential Election Was Fraud? Jury selection is due to begin on Thursday in the trial of a chain of Tory primaries sued by an electronic voting machine company.

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“The stakes are very high for Fox News. If it’s found guilty of defamation, the chain will have to pay a billion dollars,” Nicole Hemmer, associate professor of history and media expert at Vanderbilt University, sums up to AFP.

“Not enough to put her out of business, but enough to have a real impact on her future plans and overall financial health,” he added, the pearl of President Rupert Murdoch’s empire, a sounding board for conservatives’ ideological battles.

In total, Dominion Voting Systems, which operated in 28 states during the 2020 election, is seeking $1.6 billion in damages in a civil court in the state of Delaware (East).

Rare beliefs

A staggering amount, but according to the damages caused by Donald Trump being portrayed as the “villain” of a “fabricated story” on Fox News in his failed 2020 presidential run, he writes in his complaint.

In a tense situation, Donald Trump accused the Biden camp of all kinds of fraud without evidence. His advisers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, pointed the finger at Dominion on Fox News, showing the company’s ties to the regime of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

The trial will be closely followed in the United States, where it is seen as a test of freedom of expression, protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, but also for the fight against misinformation.

When Judge Eric Davis said in a March 31 order that “it is clear that there is no truth to any of Dominion’s claims during the 2020 election,” the case is considered strong and the company has already won a round.

But media convictions for defamation are rare in the United States because the plaintiff must establish a deliberate intent to spread false information in an attempt to harm them.

After hearings in which the channel’s top stars must testify, a jury must unanimously decide to find Fox News guilty. Dominion Voting Systems also called Fox Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch, 92, and his son, CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as witnesses.

“crazy”

Fox News, regularly accused of being a sounding board for conspiracy theories, wants to turn the investigation into a symbolic case for press freedom.

According to the chain, it was legitimate for the Trump camp to give it a platform as it competed in the polls and it was “vital to the search for truth” for all parties to express themselves.

But the affair led to an embarrassing unpacking for Fox News, with the release of emails or text messages exchanges within the chain and its parent company, Fox Corp., that showed a large disbelief in the circumstances of the rigged election. The boss is Rupert Murdoch.

A “really crazy thing. And damaging,” he told Fox News boss Suzanne Scott on “Watching Giuliani!” wrote in an email with the subject.

At the heart of the plaintiff’s argument are numerous messages obtained within the framework of the process and emanating from channel stars such as Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, according to which Fox News deliberately lied. lose its audience.

Instead, the chain alleges that Dominion’s voting systems were disjointed and biased selection.

Jury selection is expected to wrap up this week before trials begin Monday.