Fox News has been at the center of a $1.6B defamation trial leveled at them by Dominion, a voting systems company. The explosive lawsuit has revealed deep secrets about the company and the true thoughts and feelings of its executives and hosts. Dominion, a voting systems company filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox in March of 2021. They claim that through Fox News coverage of the 2020 election and its aftermath, they have “endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion.” After the 2020 election, Fox News continued to invite guests who believed and propelled the myth that the election was rigged and stolen from Trump. One of the common guests was Sidney Powell, Trump’s attorney who made broad claims of voting and election fraud. In these segments, they frequently targeted Dominion and its election technology.As part of the lawsuit, records of texts and email, between Fox News executives and hosts were unsealed, showing that many of them did not believe in the content of the newscasts. On Nov 6, media mogul and owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch emailed Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News saying “ has got to get some real evidence!” In another text exchange unsealed in the documents, host Laura Ingram messaged host Tucker Carlson saying “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy .” Carlson also texted host Sean Hannity regarding one of their colleagues who had publicly fact-checked Trump's election lies saying “Please get her fired. Seriously ... what the (expletive)? I'm actually shocked ... It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It's measurably hurting the company.” These are just a few of the messages and insights pulled from the depositions and documents over the course of the trial. Dominion claims the difference between the personal exchanges of Fox News staff and their on-air coverage of the election and their company were pushed because they were good for Fox’s viewership and business. Fox however contends that the exchanges were cherry-picked from the documents and this trial is about freedom of speech and the press. The Delaware superior judge presiding over the case, Eric. M Davis has made several critical decisions, mostly in favor of Dominion. In March he released a statement saying “It is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” A few weeks later, the Judge expressed concern that Fox lawyers possibly withheld evidence, saying “I am very concerned… that there have been misrepresentations to the court. This is very serious.” He then sanctioned Fox, allowing Dominion to conduct further depositions and appointed a special master to investigate further. In order to win the suit, Dominion has to prove that Fox News knowingly distributed lies about the company to its viewers. It will be up to a jury to decide. Opening statements were set to begin April 17, but Judge Davis announced Sunday evening that he approved a 24-hour delay to allow both parties to conduct possible settlements.
Fox News has been at the center of a $1.6B defamation trial leveled at them by Dominion, a voting systems company. The explosive lawsuit has revealed deep secrets about the company and the true thoughts and feelings of its executives and hosts.
Dominion, a voting systems company filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox in March of 2021. They claim that through Fox News coverage of the 2020 election and its aftermath, they have “endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion.”
After the 2020 election, Fox News continued to invite guests who believed and propelled the myth that the election was rigged and stolen from Trump. One of the common guests was Sidney Powell, Trump’s attorney who made broad claims of voting and election fraud. In these segments, they frequently targeted Dominion and its election technology.
As part of the lawsuit, records of texts and email, between Fox News executives and hosts were unsealed, showing that many of them did not believe in the content of the newscasts. On Nov 6, media mogul and owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch emailed Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News saying “[Trump] has got to get some real evidence!” In another text exchange unsealed in the documents, host Laura Ingram messaged host Tucker Carlson saying “Sidney [Powell] is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].” Carlson also texted host Sean Hannity regarding one of their colleagues who had publicly fact-checked Trump's election lies saying “Please get her fired. Seriously ... what the (expletive)? I'm actually shocked ... It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It's measurably hurting the company.” These are just a few of the messages and insights pulled from the depositions and documents over the course of the trial.
Dominion claims the difference between the personal exchanges of Fox News staff and their on-air coverage of the election and their company were pushed because they were good for Fox’s viewership and business. Fox however contends that the exchanges were cherry-picked from the documents and this trial is about freedom of speech and the press.
The Delaware superior judge presiding over the case, Eric. M Davis has made several critical decisions, mostly in favor of Dominion. In March he released a statement saying “It is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” A few weeks later, the Judge expressed concern that Fox lawyers possibly withheld evidence, saying “I am very concerned… that there have been misrepresentations to the court. This is very serious.” He then sanctioned Fox, allowing Dominion to conduct further depositions and appointed a special master to investigate further.
In order to win the suit, Dominion has to prove that Fox News knowingly distributed lies about the company to its viewers. It will be up to a jury to decide.
Opening statements were set to begin April 17, but Judge Davis announced Sunday evening that he approved a 24-hour delay to allow both parties to conduct possible settlements.
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