A defamation trial linked to false information being aired on Fox News about the 2020 US presidential elections was delayed Monday amid reports that the network is trying to settle with vote machine maker Dominion. Delaware judge Eric Davis announced that the start of proceedings in the highly anticipated civil case is being moved forward by a day. While the judge did not give any reason for the delay, Wall Street Journal reported that the conservative channel is exploring ways to settle the case.
Notably, WSJ and Fox News, both are owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch. If a settlement is reached, the 92-year-old media mogul and star anchors, such as Tucker Carlson, won’t have to testify in court.
Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for $1.6 billion in March 2021 claiming that the channel promoted Donald Trump’s false claims about the voting machines being rigged in the 2020 elections. Dominion says that Fox News knew that Trump was lying and still aired his falsehoods.
Dominion says the channel started losing its audience after it first called Arizona for Biden and projected that he will win the presidency. In a bid to regain audience, it started endorsing Trump’s conspiracy theories, it said.
Meanwhile, Fox News denies it committed defamation and says it was only reporting on Trump’s allegations, not supporting them.
Winning defamation suits in the United States is tough due to the First Amendment.
In pre-trial hearings, Davis ruled that there was no question Fox aired false statements about Dominion.
Dominion needs to prove that Fox News acted with actual malice, something that has always proven to be a tough ask. Dominion’s lawsuit has already proved embarrassing to Fox.
Earlier, Murdoch admitted in a deposition that some on-air hosts had “endorsed” the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. But he denied that the network in its entirety had pushed the baseless claim, according to court documents filed by Dominion in February.
Fox News has accused Dominion of “cherry-picking and taking quotes out of context.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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