He reached an agreement to avoid trial with the Dominion firm, which owns voting machines. Fox had spread that these devices were rigged in favor of Biden.
Fox Newsthe favorite network of Donald Trump and the voice of conservatives in the United States, reached an agreement on Tuesday according to which will pay almost 800 million dollars a Dominion Voting Systems to avoid going to trial in the lawsuit filed by the voting machine company, which allegedly exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.
The surprising agreement was finalized moments before the opening arguments began, putting a abrupt end to a case that had embarrassed Fox News for several months and had raised the possibility that the chain’s founder Rupert Murdoch and renowned presenters such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity will testify.
“The truth matters. Lies have consequencesDominion attorney Justin Nelson told reporters gathered outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis unveiled the settlement.
Outside of the $787.5 million payment that was promised to Colorado-based Dominion, it is unknown what other consequences would Fox face. The chain acknowledged in a statement that “court rulings determined that certain claims about Dominion were false,” but no apology was offered.
On air, in about six minutes of coverage, the network acknowledged the $787.5 million deal and then moved on to other topics.
“We hope our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, rather than opting for the acrimony of a divisive trialallow the country to leave these issues behindFox said. His attorneys and representatives offered no additional comment or details about the deal.
Dominion CEO John Poulos did not respond to a reporter’s question if “there was something else to this besides money.”
a significant amount
The agreement represents a significant amount even for a company the size of Fox. It means about 25% of revenue for $2.96 billion that the chain reported last year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a figure often used to give an estimate of a company’s cash flow.
The settlement also follows the $965 million award that a Connecticut jury awarded last year against Alex Jones for spread false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.
Along with other lawsuits in the pipeline, the settlement demonstrates that there is a real financial risk for the conservative press what promotes conspiracy theories.
What remains unknown is how much the ruling will do to deter them. Even under the shadow of the Dominion case, the Fox host Tucker Carlson spread his alternative theories about what happened during the insurrection of January 6, 2021.
The demand
Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billionarguing that the chain damaged the company’s reputation by push false conspiracy theories who ensured that their teams they changed votes which were for former President Donald Trump to benefit Democrat Joe Biden.
In a previous ruling, Davis said it was “absolutely clear” that none of the claims he made Trump allies spread via Fox they were true.
Dominion was determined to prove in a lawsuit that Fox acted in bad faith at the time of transmitting accusations that he knew to be false, or with an “irresponsible disregard” for the truth.
Tests
He presented a large number of internal emails and text messages showing that executives and presenters from the network they knew the accusations were not trueeven while falsehoods were broadcast on the shows of hosts Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeannine Pirro.
Records released as part of the lawsuit show that Fox aired the claims in part to win back the viewers the network lost after election night. declared correctly that Biden had won in disputed Arizona.
In testimony, Murdoch stated that he believed the 2020 election they had been fair and had not been stolen from Trump.
“Fox knew the truth,” Dominion argued in court documents. “He knew that the allegations against Dominion were ‘outlandish’ and ‘crazy’ and ‘ridiculous’ and ‘wacky.’ However, he used the power and influence of his platform to promote that false story.”
Associated Press
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