It has been settled in the lawsuit that Dominion, a company behind voice computer technology, had brought against Fox News. The trial revolved around the lies that the American news channel spread after the 2020 presidential election.
The lawsuit against Fox News would normally start on Tuesday in Delaware. Voting computer manufacturer Dominion had sued the conservative news channel for defamation and sought damages of $1.6 billion (about $1.5 billion) after Fox News insisted after the 2020 presidential election that Dominion Voting Systems’ voting computers, used in 28 states , were manipulated.
Fox News management invoked freedom of the press and sided with losing President Donald Trump. It insisted that it had legitimately reproduced his and his lawyers’ statements as news items. For his part, Dominion wanted to prove that the channel was deliberately spreading untruths. A jury would have to determine whether Fox had knowingly sold false claims.
But it does not come to that. “The parties have resolved their dispute,” said Judge Eric Davis, just after the jurors took their seats. Davis did not disclose details about the (financial) content of the agreement, but according to a lawyer for Dominion, Fox News will cough up 787.5 million dollars (about 718 million euros). Originally, the company demanded more than double that amount.
Cable channel Fox News thus avoids a publicity failure, although it was already underway in the run-up to the trial. For example, the internal communications released revealed that Fox News reporters themselves did not believe the 2020 election was rigged, as Donald Trump’s camp continued and continues to claim.
Image damage
Even more embarrassing details about Fox News’ lies and its screen faces were expected to surface. Fox boss Rupert Murdoch also risked even more image damage, after he had previously stated that the network’s top knew that Trump was talking nonsense about the election.
In a comment to The New York Times says Fox admits that falsehoods about Dominion have been aired. The cable channel “hopes that the decision to settle will prevent this lawsuit from becoming even more divisive.” Fox News says the arrangement reflects the channel’s “commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
The settlement came as a surprise on Tuesday. In the morning another twelve-member jury had been selected for the case and the opening speeches were scheduled for the afternoon. After some delay, the judge announced that a settlement had been made.
With the settlement, the legal troubles for Fox are not over: a similar defamation case is pending against another plaintiff involved in voice technology, Smartmatic. A Smartmatic spokesperson said in a statement following news of the settlement: “Dominion’s lawsuit has exposed some of the misconduct and harm caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic exposes the rest.’ The company claims 2.7 billion dollars (2.5 billion euros) in damages from Fox.
In addition to the Smartmatic case, there are three other lawsuits against the controversial news channel.
