The Fox News television network will pay voting machine maker Dominion $787.5 million in damages, ending a defamation lawsuit for endorsing false claims by Donald Trump that he blamed his 2020 presidential election loss on Electronic voting manipulation.
“The parties settled their dispute”, Judge Eric Davis announced to the jurors, when the trial was about to formally begin in the Supreme Court of the state of Delaware.
Fox News stated its “satisfaction“by agreement”friendly” that spares its owner, Rupert Murdoch, and some of the star presenters, such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannitythe embarrassment of sitting down to testify as witnesses in a trial that was going to test the freedom of expression contemplated in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“We are happy to have reached a resolution of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems”, declared the chain in a statement, in which it assures “recognize court rulings declaring certain claims about Dominion false”, after the judge had concluded in a March 31 decision that he was “crystal clear that no claim about Dominion during the 2020 election was true”.
“Consequences”
“lies have consequences”, Assured Dominion’s lawyer, announcing that foxnews He had agreed to pay $787.5 million to the company, which was demanding $1.6 billion in damages.
This agreement prevents the pearl of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire from submitting to the “defamation trial of the century”, as described by the New York Times newspaper. Already rupert murdoch being questioned at 92 years old.
The proceedings of the process had already laid bare the conservative chain with the publication of emails and SMS showing that some of its stars, and even Murdoch himself, did not believe at all, in November 2020, that the election had been rigged, although before the cameras they assured the opposite.
Dominion, whose electronic voting machines were used in 28 states in the presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, was Trump’s beast noire, who accused the company, without evidence, of having been rigged.
“Really crazy and harmful”
Many voters of the Republican, who aspires to return to the White House in 2024, continue to believe that the election was stolen from him. The paroxysm occurred on January 6, 2021 with the invasion of the Capitol by a mass of followers to try to prevent the certification of the results of the polls.
Although the judicial dossier was considered solid, Dominion it had to establish that Fox News had deliberately lied, and the jury had to be unanimous in its conviction.
The conservative chain, which continues to be the most watched in the United States, wanted to turn this trial into an emblematic case of press freedom, since according to it, it was legitimate to give the Trump camp a floor when it contested the result and “essential for the search for truth” let all parties speak.
Dominion relied on internal discussions to argue that Fox News was deliberately lying, so as not to lose part of a supportive audience. Trump.
“Something really crazy. and unfortunate”, the great boss wrote on November 19, 2020 regarding the Trump accusations, rupert murdochto the head of Fox News, Suzanne Scott.
“you have to throw it out”said one of the network’s stars, Tucker Carlson, referring to a tweet by a network journalist who refuted the fraud allegations.
“This hurts the company considerably. The value of the shares goes down. It is not a joke“, said.
Source: Gestion
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