Fox News may pay a huge bill for promoting the false theory that the 2020 US presidential election was rigged. Jury selection is set to begin Thursday in a trial of a conservative flagship station being sued by an electronic voting machine company.

“The stakes are very high for Fox News. If he is found guilty of defamation, the TV station could pay about one billion dollars,” Nicole Hemmer, associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University and a media expert, told AFP.

“It’s not enough to knock him out of the game, but it’s enough to have a real impact on future plans and the overall financial health,” she adds of the top job in tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s empire, where conservative ideological battles are fought.

In total, Dominion Voting Systems, which operated in 28 states during the 2020 election, is seeking $1.6 billion in damages in a Delaware (East) civil court against America’s most popular cable television network and its parent company, Fox Corporation.

In a tense atmosphere, Donald Trump accused the Biden camp of fraud without evidence. His advisers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, pointed the finger at Dominion on Fox News, portraying the company as having ties to the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela.

The trial will be closely watched in the United States, where it is seen as a test of freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, as well as a fight against disinformation.

The case is considered serious, and the company already won the round when Judge Eric Davis said in a March 31 ruling that “it was clear that none of the statements made about Dominion during the 2020 election were true.”

But convictions of the media for defamation are rare in the United States, because the plaintiff must prove a willful intent to spread false information with intent to cause harm.

A jury is expected to reach a unanimous decision to convict Fox News after hearings expected to include testimony from the channel’s top stars. Dominion Voting Systems called Fox founder Rupert Murdoch, 92, and his son, CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as witnesses.

Fox News, regularly accused of being a mouthpiece for conspiracy theories, wants to make the trial a landmark case for press freedom.

It was legal for the station to acknowledge the Trump camp’s point of view when it contested the vote, and it was “essential to the search for truth” to allow all sides to speak.

But the case led to embarrassing revelations for Fox News, with the release of emails or messages that showed that at the network and its parent company, Fox Corporation, even chief executive Rupert Murdoch did not believe in an election-rigging scenario.

“Really crazy stuff. And harmful,” he wrote in an email titled “Getting ready to watch Giuliani!” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.

Numerous messages received during the proceedings, as well as messages from TV stars such as Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, are at the heart of the plaintiff’s argument that Fox News deliberately lied to avoid losing viewers.

The station accuses Dominion Voting Systems of conducting a truncated and biased selection.

Jury selection is expected to be completed this week and the hearing will begin on Monday.