"Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment."Ī Dominion spokesperson said Monday, "The damages claim remains. "Dominion's lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims," said a Fox spokesperson in a statement Monday. Fox has also said in court papers the $1.6 billion figure has no connection to Dominion's financial value. "Even if some of Fox's hosts' statements could qualify as 'opinions,' they are still actionable if-as here-they are based on false or undisclosed facts," Dominion said.Ī representative for Fox News reiterated in a statement on Monday that Dominion mischaracterized the facts by cherry-picking soundbites: "When Dominion is not mischaracterizing the law, it is mischaracterizing the facts."įox has also targeted Dominion's private-equity owner in court papers regarding Dominion's request for $1.6 billion in damages, saying the firm "paid a small fraction of that amount" to buy Dominion. Text messages and testimony have shown Fox executives and Fox's TV anchors were skeptical about claims that the election between Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, was rigged.ĭominion said in court papers filed Monday that Fox's defense that the statements made were opinion "goes nowhere." Earlier in February court papers were released that showed snippets of the evidence Dominion gathered through the months-long process of discovery and depositions, which also included Fox TV personalities. Murdoch and his son, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Fox's chief legal and policy officer Viet Dinh, were questioned in connection with the lawsuit in recent months. In earlier court papers, Fox said that the past year of discovery has shown the company played "no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements - all of which aired on either Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel." Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election, and has said "the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech." "They endorsed."ĭominion sued Fox and its right-wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. "Some of our commentators were endorsing it," Murdoch said in his responses during the deposition. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria as commentators." In unveiled question and answers from Murdoch's deposition, when Murdoch was asked if he was "now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election," Murdoch responded, "Not Fox, no. Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox's TV hosts endorsed the false election fraud claims. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
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