2023-04-19 00:06:30
“The libel suit of the century”, as described by New York Times, will not take place. And for this, the American chain Fox News will pay 787.5 million dollars (718 million euros approximately) to the electronic voting machine company Dominion in order not to go to court over its controversial coverage of the 2020 presidential election in the United States.
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems”said in a statement, the favorite chain of American conservatives, shortly after the announcement, Tuesday, April 18, of a last-minute agreement between the parties by the judge who was to preside over the trial before a superior court in the United States. State of Delaware.
Even before the debates, 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 the big boss Rupert Murdoch, hardly believed, in November 2020, to the scenario of a rigged election, while the accusations flourished on the air.
“Lies have consequences”, assured the lawyer of the Dominion company, Justin Nelson, publicly announcing the famous amount that Fox News has agreed to pay. The company he defends initially claimed $ 1.6 billion, more than double what it will receive.
Dominion boss John Poulos said Fox News had “admitted to telling lies” who have “caused enormous damage to my business, our employees and our customers”. “Nothing can fix this”he added.
Rupert Murdoch will not take the stand
The chain said, for its part, “note a court decision finding certain claims about Dominion to be false”while the judge had declared in an order of March 31 that he was “crystal clear that no assertions about Dominion in the 2020 election [n’était] true ».
The deal saves 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News is the media empire’s flagship channel, from the prospect of possibly having to testify at the bar. The selection of the jury had ended on Tuesday and the debates were to begin in stride.
The Dominion company, whose machines operated in twenty-eight 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 served to rig the ballot. Many Donald Trump voters still believe the election was stolen from them, and that protest came to a head 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.
Freedom of expression
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 disinformation. 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 he contested the vote and “essential for the search for truth” to allow all parties to 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 stuff. And damaging”wrote, in November 2020, Rupert Murdoch to the boss of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, about the Trumpist accusations of fraud.
Test your general culture with the writing of the “World”
Discover
“We have to fire her”also said one of the stars of the channel, Tucker Carlson, speaking of a tweet from a Fox News journalist who swept aside accusations of fraud. “This is hurting the business considerably. The stock price is down. This is not a joke “, he added. Fox News accused Dominion of having made a truncated and biased selection of messages.
#Fox #News #agrees #pay #million #avoid #libel #lawsuit #coverage #Joe #Bidens #election