Fox News agrees to pay $787.5 million to avoid defamation lawsuit

the television network foxnews will pay voting machine maker Dominion $787.5 million in damages, ending a defamation suit for seconding the false claims of donald trump who attributed his defeat in the 2020 presidential elections to the manipulation of the electronic vote.

“The parties settled their disputethe judge announced. Eric Davis to the jurors, as the trial was about to formally begin in the Supreme Court of the state of Delaware.

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foxnews stated his “satisfaction“by agreement”friendly” that avoids its owner, rupert murdochand 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 American Constitution.

“We are happy to have reached a solution to 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”.

Dominion’s President john poulostold reporters outside of court that “Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that have caused enormous damage to my company, our employees and our customers. nothing can make up for it”.

“Consequences”

“lies have consequences”, Assured Dominion’s lawyer, announcing that Fox News had agreed to pay 787.5 million dollars to the company, which was demanding 1,600 million for damages in the lawsuit filed against the chain in March 2021 .

This agreement prevents the pearl of Ruper Murdoch’s media empire from submitting to the “defamation trial of the century”, as described by the newspaper New York Times. And Rupert Murdoch being questioned at 92 years old.

Analysts had predicted that it could be one of the most momentous defamation trials in the legal history of USA.

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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 the Democrat Joe Bidenwas the black beast of Trump, who accused the company, without evidence, of having been tricked.

“Really crazy and harmful”

Many voters of the Republican, who aspires to return to the White House in 2024, they still believe the election was stolen.

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 court file was considered sound, Dominion had to establish that Fox News had deliberately lied, and all 12 jurors had to be unanimous in their 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 pro-Trump audience.

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“Something really crazy. and unfortunate”, wrote on November 19, 2020 regarding the Trump accusations Rupert Murdoch to the head of Fox News, Suzanne Scott.

“you have to throw it out”, said one of the stars of the chain, Tucker Carlsonreferring to a tweet by a journalist from the network that refuted the accusations of fraud.

“This hurts the company considerably. The value of the shares goes down. It is not a joke“, said.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.