American voting machine manufacturer Dominion tows transmitter Fox News to court for spreading lies. The case, which is due in mid-April, is unique in US history. What is the blame and what are the chances of Dominion winning?
Dominion claims so Fox News deliberately spread lies just after the 2020 US presidential election. Among other things, the company punctualizes that Fox News reported that Dominion voting machines had been used for election fraud.
It was a theory that some voting machines would “convert” a vote for Donald Trump into a vote for his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who won the election. “But the editors knew that this theory was not true,” claims Dominion.
The American-Canadian company is therefore claiming damages of 1.6 billion dollars (more than 1.5 billion euros) for defamation. The reporting of Fox News, which has generally been pro-Trump, is said to have affected Dominion sales. Certainly in Republican states and cities, the negative coverage would have demonstrably led to less demand for the voting machines.
Dominion feels empowered by the company’s internal communications Fox News got hold of. Channel boss Rupert Murdoch, for example, called Trump’s claims that the election results had been tampered with “crazy” and “damaging”.
According to The New York Times Murdoch also issued an explosive statement under oath. “I would have liked to see us denounce the allegations more strongly afterwards,” the newspaper quotes. “Some presenters have gone too far.”
It shows, according to the daily, that “the country’s most popular TV network knew Trump’s claims were untrue and decided to broadcast them anyway.”
Murdoch was not alone in doubting Trump’s statements, which the former president never provided evidence for. Other employees spoke of “absurd” and “reckless” accusations. Leaders were disappointed with the space that Trump received from the channel in the run-up to the elections. “I hate him fervently,” wrote well-known presenter Tucker Carlson in an app group of Fox News-staff.
Fox News in defense of freedom of expression. The channel hides behind the fact that Trump stated that the election would be “stolen”. For that reason, the channel would have said several times that there was fraud.
According to Fox News viewers would have understood that it was only allegations and not facts. The company is also concerned about press freedom.
Authoritative legal experts argue that Dominion has a good chance of winning. It is rare in the US for such a libel case to be brought against a major media company.
The Constitution provides a clear foundation for freedom of the press, which is enshrined in the first amendment. It becomes a different matter if someone can prove that a medium has deliberately spread lies with malicious intent, ie actual malice. According to Dominion, this is apparent from the secret documents that the company has in its possession.
Incidentally, there is also a chance that the case will not occur. The case will start April 17, so the parties can try to settle for another month.
