If we had to say when everything started, we would start from November 3, 2020. On the day of the US presidential election, Fox News became the first broadcaster to predict that future President Joe Biden would win in the state of Arizona. The prediction turned out to be correct.

But the decision to air it, and indeed at first the TV channel considered the voice of conservatives in the US, created a huge crisis at Fox News, the results of which could be seen this week, two and a half years later, and they are the specific cost: $787.5 million , the amount Fox agreed to pay in defamation damages to Dominion Voting Systems, a vote counting company co-founded and CEO by Greek-born John Poulos. But how did we get here, the largest award ever awarded in a similar case in the US?

Following the Arizona state forecast, Fox News viewership began to fall. Both the administrative and journalistic staff began to panic. “CNN is killing us!” wrote 92-year-old Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch in an email to Fox News Media CEO Susan Scott on November 8. “I think our viewers don’t want to see this,” he continued, speaking on Fox News. As the days passed, as it became clear that President Biden had been legitimately elected, Fox News executives saw their audiences favor other conservative competitors like Newsmax and showed significant interest in a particular conspiracy theory later dubbed “The Big Lie: How the election was stolen, and Biden’s victory was the result of fraud. It was a lie with unpredictable consequences that led to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

propaganda

At the heart of this lie were the Dominion voting systems. To support the Big Lie, President Trump’s staff slandered the vote counting company, saying it was responsible for alleged election fraud. Among other things, the television space and time for this was provided by the largest US television company Fox News. Beginning November 8, 2020 and ending January 26, 2021, there were 20 instances of Fox News hosts either making false comments promoting company defamation on air or on Twitter, or airing TV interviews with prominent election deniers, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, even though they knew the above didn’t exist.

On November 12, Rudy Giuliani claimed on another Fox show that Dominion is owned by Venezuelans close to Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro and was created to rig elections. The same lies—about voter fraud, algorithmic voter fraud, and ties to Venezuela—were repeated online, prompting Dominion to sue Fox News and Fox Corp. in March 2021, seeking $1.6 billion in damages. companies when they gave way to conspiracy theorists who spread lies about the company to millions of television viewers.

Last minute

It was expected to be a libel trial of a decade, perhaps a century. A trial that would bring to justice not only network television stars, but even Rupert Murdoch himself. Until the last minute, it seemed that this would happen and the scales were tipping in favor of the Dominion.

On Tuesday, everyone was ready for trial. Mr. Murdoch was due to take the position on Wednesday. Dominion CEO Poulos and one of the company’s largest investors, Staple Street Capital co-founder Khutan Yagubzadeh, were in the Delaware courtroom where the case was to be heard in a final attempt to resolve the conflict. Fox’s chief lawyer, Viet Din, was “present” by phone from Los Angeles. Also “present” was Jerry Roscoe, a mediator with experience in military negotiations in the Balkans in the 1990s, who was on a Danube cruise on Tuesday and was brought on board by both sides just 24 hours ago.

Fox avoided the presence of Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson on the bench. Let them confess their lies,” Samuel Friedman tells K.

Judge Davis began swearing the jury when both sides in Dominion v. Fox began to find an advantage. Until 16:00, they announced that the trial would not take place – a settlement agreement had been reached.

The Dominion lawyer, who by early Tuesday was working on questions he would ask Mr. Murdoch the next day, was not ready for a possible settlement. “Truth matters,” he began writing on a blank sheet of paper, “according to the New York Times, lies have consequences.” Many millions.

Disclosure of emails

The investigation uncovered embarrassing messages and emails from senior Fox executives that showed how the broadcasters were afraid of losing their audience, which they clearly disagreed with. How much they could not stand President Trump. That they hated a lot of what they promoted. Rupert Murdoch was forced to accept that some hosts “endorsed” the fake news, and Fox struggled to strike a balance between propagating conspiracy theories and claiming they were in fact false. However, some feel that an important opportunity for American democracy has been lost because of the settlement.

“I’m torn,” says Samuel Friedman, professor of journalism at Columbia University. For the Dominion, he emphasizes, this is a clear victory. “She got a lot of compensation, she didn’t have to pay extra legal fees or risk a ‘dishonest’ jury that could have ruled against her,” he explains. But, he stresses, this is a defeat for American democracy.

“Fox avoided the presence of Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and others on the podium, forced under oath to confess to their deliberate lies and disinformation campaign – this spectacle was necessary for American democracy,” he says. The resulting evidence – messages and emails – does not reach as many people as evidence, he notes. “While $787.5 million is a large amount in a defamation case, it’s pennies for Fox—American democracy needed the symbolism of a billion-dollar fine,” he says. However, he says it could be a temporary defeat, hoping for a Smartmatic v. Fox lawsuit.

For prominent lawyer James Goodale, who has defended The New York Times in Supreme Court cases including the New York Times Co. V. Sullivan, who set the tone in libel cases involving freedom of the press, the Dominion got it right.

“The ideal time for a settlement is right before the start because all the preliminary testimony and decisions are made and there are no surprises from the witnesses or the judge,” says Mr. Goodale K. The result of the decision is that Fox will lose money, he says. , “but they still have a lot.”

However, he is optimistic about the consequences. “I think,” said Mr. Goodale, who was a New York Times vice president and now a professor of law at Fordham University, “that the result is very positive for press freedom.”

John Poulos in “K”

“I am relieved that we were able to uncover the facts, demonstrate that defamation has a costly effect, and confirm the enormous damage suffered by our company and our employees,” says John, the protagonist of the case, exclusively to K. Poulos. The compromise is also interpreted by the American media as his personal rehabilitation, as he did not go beyond the comments made to his company, but went through with it.

In November 2020, months before the lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp., Mr. Poulos spoke exclusively to K about what he and his company are going through post-election, while denying “crazy and outlandish claims” . , according to him, which even led to threats to the lives of company employees, some of whom turned to the police for protection. “It has become terribly difficult,” said K. Poulos, co-founder of Dominion in 2003 to make independent voting easier for all voters. The interview then focused on Sidney Powell, a former Trump campaign lawyer and conspiracy theorist that the Dominion “stole” the election for Biden. “If she doesn’t refuse,” Mr. Poulos told K, “we will see her in court.”

He kept his word. Dominion’s battle with Fox may have ended this week, but the company’s lawsuits against Newsmax and OAN, as well as Mr. Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, are still pending.

“We will continue without stopping,” Mr. Poulos now says to “K,” “to pursue accountability for the remaining six defamation cases we have against those who spread and promoted lies about our company.”
But Fox’s litigation isn’t over either. Smartmatic, another voting technology company, also sued Fox for defamation, seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

“You can call opinions ‘news’”

“The evidence presented in this civil suit shows that it is ABSOLUTELY clear that none of the representations associated with the Dominion in relation to the 2020 elections are true,” Supreme Court Justice Eric M. Davis wrote in the March 31 decision. . Because Fox’s argument was that its newsroom was merely reporting opinions, the judge wrote that it “seems like an oxymoron to call the statements ‘opinions’ while declaring that the statements are news worth publishing.”

From lies about treason to compromise

November 3, 2020. Fox News becomes the first broadcaster to announce that the state of Arizona will go to Joe Biden.

Nov 8 2020. For the first time since the election, Sidney Powell on Fox News accuses the Dominion of electoral fraud.

Nov 13 2020. The Fox investigation team found that there was no evidence of electoral fraud or serious problems with the Dominion’s systems.

Dec.-Jan. 2020. Ms. Powell and Rudy Giuliani, among others, frequently appear on Fox News repeating the same false accusations.

March 26, 2021. Dominion is suing Fox News. Eight months later, he also sued Fox Corp. and the cases were subsequently merged.

December 16, 2021. Judge Eric M. Davis denies Fox’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

March 31, 2023. The judge ruled that Fox’s statements on the air were false and libelous.

18 Apr 2023. After adjourning the trial for a day, a settlement agreement is decided.