2023-04-18 21:11:15
US broadcaster Fox News will pay electronic voting machine company Dominion US$787.5 million after a last-minute deal on Tuesday that spared it an embarrassing lawsuit over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election.
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems,” said the favorite chain of American conservatives in a press release, shortly after the announcement of an agreement between the parties by the judge who was to preside. the trial, in a superior court in the State of Delaware.
The channel also said it “acknowledges a court ruling that found certain claims about Dominion to be false,” as the judge said in a March 31 order that it was “clear as day no claims on Dominion in 2020 election [n’était] true”.
” Consequences “
“Lies have consequences,” assured Dominion’s lawyer, Justin Nelson, announcing the amount Fox News has agreed to pay: US$787.5 million. The company he is defending initially claimed US$1.6 billion.
This agreement saves the pearl of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire from undergoing “the libel trial of the century” as the New York Times. And to Rupert Murdoch, 92, the prospect of possibly having to testify on the stand.
Even before the proceedings, the procedure had given rise to an embarrassing unpacking for Fox News, with the publication of exchanges of emails or text messages showing that stars of the chain, and even Rupert Murdoch, hardly believed, in November 2020, to the scenario of a rigged election, while the accusations flourished on the air.
The trial was eagerly awaited in the United States, where it was seen as a test for the limits of freedom of expression, guaranteed by the first amendment to the Constitution, as well as for the fight against misinformation.
The selection of the jury had ended on Tuesday and the debates were to begin in stride.
“Dominion”, whose machines operated in 28 states during the presidential election won by Joe Biden, was the pet peeve of Donald Trump’s close guard, who accused him at length and without proof of having been used to rig the ballot.
” Really crazy “
Many Donald Trump voters still believe today that the election was stolen from them, and the climax of this challenge was reached on January 6, 2021, when thousands of his supporters attacked the Capitol, the heart of democracy. American, to block the certification of the results of the November 2020 election.
If the court case was found to be strong, the company still had to establish a deliberate intent to lie at Fox News and the jury had to reach a unanimous verdict for a conviction.
Indispensable in the conservative camp but regularly accused of echoing conspiracy theories, Fox News was playing big and wanted to make the trial an emblematic case for freedom of the press.
For the chain, it was legitimate to give the floor to the Trump camp when it contested the vote and “essential for the search for the truth” to let all parties express themselves.
But Dominion relied on internal discussions to argue that Fox News was lying on purpose, so as not to lose its viewers won over to Donald Trump.
A “really crazy thing. And damaging, ”wrote on November 19, 2020 about the Trumpist accusations the big boss, Rupert Murdoch, to the boss of Fox News, Suzanne Scott.
“We have to fire her,” also said one of the stars of the chain, Tucker Carlson, speaking of a tweet from a journalist of the chain sweeping away the accusations of fraud.
“This is hurting the business considerably. The stock price is down. This is no joke,” he added.
Fox News accused Dominion of having made a truncated and biased selection of messages.
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