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New York (CNN) Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation lawsuit against Fox News advances to a high-stakes jury trial next month, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, refusing to declare a pretrial winner Did.
The judge’s decision represents a major legal setback for Fox News, with some of the right-wing channel’s top executives and most prominent hosts likely to be called to the stands to testify about the 2020 election lies. It sets the stage for a painful, weeks-long trial that was advertised on air.
Both parties sought pretrial judgment in favor of Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, declaring the winner at this stage and avoiding trial. and after a series of courtroom clashes in Wilmington, Davis decided that the case should go to trial.
However, at Friday’s ruling, Davis said evidence presented by Dominion showed Fox News broadcast lies about the company.
“The evidence obtained in this civil suit very clearly shows that none of the Dominion-related statements regarding the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote.
A spokesperson for Dominion said in a statement, “We are satisfied with the court’s sweeping ruling that completely dismisses all of Fox’s allegations and defenses and, as a matter of law, finds their statements about Dominion to be false. I look forward to being brought to justice.”
“This lawsuit is, and has always been, about the First Amendment protection of the media’s absolute right to report the news. We continue to vigorously defend the right to freedom and press freedom, a Fox spokesperson said in a statement.
Jury selection is scheduled for April 13th.
At this stage in the proceedings, neither side was always likely to win.
Unless an out-of-court settlement is reached, Davis’ ruling means that Fox News will continue to harass Dominion by repeatedly spreading false allegations that Fox News cheated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. This means that a jury must decide whether it is defamatory. .
Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, denied all wrongdoing, and the conspiracy theory-filled broadcast after the 2020 election was simply reporting “newsworthy claims,” so the fix. It claims to be protected by Article 1.
Their legal liability will be determined in court. But the incident has already damaged his Fox reputation.
The incriminating texts and emails show how Fox executives, hosts, and producers did not believe the claims the network was pitching about Dominion. not a partisan Republican activity focused on ratings, but a dagger.
The lawsuit is considered one of the most significant defamation cases in recent memory. Fox argues the loss would gut press freedom, and some scholars agree that the bar to prove defamation should be kept high. Liszt says that holding Fox accountable for deliberately broadcasting a lie does not pose a threat to objective journalists who would never do it in the first place.
The case exposes Fox News as a right-wing profit machine devoid of the most basic journalistic ethics, willing to promote freewheeling election conspiracy theories to maintain a profitable business. I pulled out a mountain of evidence to do.
Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted in an affidavit that some of his top hosts supported an on-air election lie that he knew was false. And after the 2020 election, according to internal text message and email exchanges released as part of the lawsuit, the most prominent stars and top executives criticized conspiracy theories that had been circulating on the air. Discarded privately.
The complaint showed how worried Fox News executives and hosts were about losing Newsmax viewership.
After the election, an enraged Donald Trump attacked Fox News and encouraged his followers to switch to Newsmax. I did. Fox News lost some of its audience and Newsmax gained a sizable audience, causing panic within the building and leading network leaders to embrace the election denials that engulfed much of the Republican Party. I got
In multiple instances, Fox News executives and hosts began cracking down on people in the network who fact-checked election lies. Attempted to have Heinrich fired for fact-checking tweets about voter fraud. When cut short, senior Fox News executives were told such a move would pose a “brand threat.”
Despite what was aired, Fox News executives and hosts privately criticized the Trump campaign for pushing claims of election fraud. “He acted like a madman,” said Ingraham, who described him as an “idiot.” Rupert Murdoch said Giuliani’s advice to Trump was ‘really bad’.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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