The Fox News Trial: A Keystone to Defamation, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Media in the U.S. Voting Systems
The jury will be asked to determine if people at Fox News knew that they were peddling lies but did so anyway. It’s a good benchmark to win a defamation case in the US legal system.
Dominion Voting Systems alleges the conservative network promulgated the ex-president’s conspiracy theories, including about its voting machines, to avoid alienating its viewers and for the good of its bottom line.
The trial had been scheduled to open Monday but the judge announced Sunday evening it’d be delayed until Tuesday. The reason was not immediately clear. The Wall Street Journal said that Fox had made a last-ditch attempt to settle the dispute out of court.
The drama will play out in a Delaware courtroom and it will show how truth has been sullied as a political currency and how a right-wing business model depends on spinning an alternative reality. It is unclear if Trump will end up paying a significant personal or political price for his role in the conspiracy that took place during the 2020 election.
Fox has also accused Dominion of generating “noise and confusion” around the case, stating, “the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution,” specifically the First Amendment.
The FBI investigation into the 2016 presidential election trial of the ex-President Joe Biden: Is it really a crime to mislead a Republican?
The possibility of indictment in the investigations into his attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory by a district attorney in Georgia appears to be a possibility, though the former president is adamant that he did not break any laws. Interviews and testimony were taken by a House Select committee when Democrats held the chamber last year.
But the falsehood of a corrupt election still forms the bedrock of Trump’s 2024 campaign to win back the White House. The idea that Trump was thrown out of office because he actually won in 2020 has been popular among many of Trump’s supporters.
It’s also questionable whether viewers of conservative media will hear much about the trial and get sufficient information that might convince them to change their minds about 2020.
Many in the Republican Party are unwilling to challenge Trump because they know that he will continue to spread false information, which is what happened to the candidates who championed his election lies.
The ex-president is forcing his party to keep looking in the mirror and instead of looking to the future.
The court proceeding against Fox, like the process of transferring power between Trump and Biden, shows that the country has mechanisms of accountability despite Trump’s efforts.
But the run-up to the trial has been a catalog of embarrassments and reversals for both the network and the broader premise that there is anything to Trump’s false claims.
“To go up there and say, ‘What Fox did was protected by the First Amendment,’ it’s half the story. It’s protected by the First Amendment if you can’t demonstrate actual malice,” he said.
Fox said it did not suppress any evidence. And, in a remarkable move, lawyers for the network sent an apology to the judge Friday, showing contrition and taking responsibility for the “misunderstanding” that led to the special master’s inquiry.
From the opening hours of his presidency, Trump made clear he would create an alternative vision of reality that his supporters could embrace and that would help him subvert the rules and conventions of the presidency. The angry exhortations by Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, in January 2017 that his boss had attracted the biggest inauguration crowd in history seemed at the time bizarre and absurd. They were the first sign that truth was going to be destroyed for Trump’s political benefit, which eventually led to lies about a stolen election and helped to convince many of his supporters. The culmination of all this was the mob attack by his supporters on Congress on January 6, 2021, during the certification of Biden’s victory.
It’s not surprising this is. Because when he was in office, Trump made no secret of his strategy, telling the world in a moment of candor how he operated.
We need you with us. He told his supporters at a vets convention in Kansas City that he was against the fake news and not to believe it. “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
We won in 2016 We won by much more in 2020 but it was rigged,” Trump said in the first big rally of his campaign in Waco, Texas, at the end of March.
The Future of the GOP depends on Fox News, and why they’re important to young voters: A pedagogical speech from New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu
“If you look in the rearview mirror too long while you’re driving, you’re going to look up, and you’re going to be running into somebody, and that’s not going to be good.”
While Trump is still wildly popular with conservatives, it’s not as if it will be easy to restore the truth about 2020.
At the Republican National Committee’s spring retreat in Tennessee over the weekend, a swing-state GOP governor told major donors the party’s future political success depended in part on Fox News.
In a speech about attracting independents and young people to the Republican Party, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he had urged Fox News to break out of its “echo chamber” for Republicans to prosper.
The material gathered by the legal team of Dominion proved that Fox is a deeply conservative institution with leaders who are closely tied to Republican politics.
Sununu told Republican donors that they needed to think about the long game. “We get ourselves tied up in issues. I’m not saying they’re not important but they don’t make the team bigger.
He said that the party’s product was appealing to younger voters due to the low taxes and local government control.
“I was on with [Fox News business anchor and senior vice president Neil] Cavuto this morning, and I talk to the leadership at Fox all the time,” Sununu said.
“I go, ‘Look guys, I saw a panel discussion with four panelists on Fox and they all were literally agreeing with each other… They are talking in an echo chamber. What are you doing to grow the team?'”
NPR obtained an audio recording of an excerpt of the talk from Lauren Windsor, a liberal activist and consultant, who acquired them from an attendee. The governor’s remarks were verified by Vihstadt.
Murdoch’s “The Game of Thrones” with Fox: Insights from a Delicate Moment in News, Politics, and Legal Proceedings
Sununu’s comments come at a delicate time for Fox. The six-week trial is set to start Tuesday morning after a one-day delay, but it is also being negotiated over by its legal team.
In Australia, the U.S., and the UK, it’s been known that Murdoch has tried to influence elections in his native country, both in his news pages and programs. Ryan is the Speaker of the U.S. House and sits on Fox’s board. The network’s corporate parent has a corporate name. He was one of the people who argued that Fox should stop supporting election conspiracy theories.
And Trump drew from a roster of Fox personalities for appointments to his administration. Fox stars Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and others advised him off the air. (Dobbs would be forced out a day after another election tech company, Smartmatic, sued Fox in a $2.7 billion defamation claim.)
In response to a request for comment, a Fox spokesperson noted that surveys suggest its audiences – which are far larger than its peers – include the most Democrats and independents watching.
Back in November 2020, NPR reported that Hannity invited RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on his show on the night before Biden would be projected to win the presidency.
An internal GOP memo to prepare McDaniel reflected full knowledge of what would be asked, setting out the specifics of the show’s lengthy opening segment — including its guests and subjects — and Hannity’s main points. There are suspicions of voter fraud.
In September 2020, Murdoch warned Trump’s son-in-law that the Biden campaign ads weren’t as good as they could be. The next day, the media magnate, whose former wife had helped reconcile Kushner with his wife Ivanka Trump after a brief split, followed up with another email.
Biden is in the same football at 1.0 pm this Sunday. The game is very good. I think so. Will send it,” Murdoch said in an email made public through legal proceedings.
On November 10th, a few days after Biden’s win, Maria Bartiromo sent a message to former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon “I’m so depressed.” I can’t take this”
There were no plans to stand still. He laid out a multi-point plan that included delegitimizing Biden as president, Republicans’ winning both U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, and getting Bartiromo elected to the U.S. Senate in New York – all while prepping Trump for a 2024 White House bid.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1170513194/gop-governor-says-hes-urged-fox-news-to-break-out-of-its-echo-chamber
Fox News and a Republican Candidate: Why Do Fox News Mention Pro-Trump Remnants? The Case of Rupert Murdoch
On Nov 14, 2020, Fox Corp. executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s son, warned chief executive Suzanne Scott about the tone of Fox’s coverage of a pro-Trump rally.
Lachlan Murdoch advised the newsmen to be careful with how they cover the rally. Some of the side comments are slightly anti, but shouldn’t be. The narrative should be that this is a celebration of the president.
On November 16, Rupert Murdoch affirmed his interest in aiding the Republican drive to win the Senate in an email to Scott: “Trump will concede eventually and we should concentrate on Georgia, helping any way we can.”
We will prove that Fox spread lies which caused enormous damage in the coming weeks. On the eve of the trial, a spokesman for the company said they were looking forward to it.
Private text messages and emails released as part of the case revealed that top executives simply didn’t believe the debunked conspiracy theories they were peddling on-air.
It is the central part of the case. According to the company, it was Fox News that promoted lies about its technology and not the other way around. (Fox denies this.)
Fox may still be able to prevail even with these setbacks. Juries are unpredictable, and the verdict must be unanimous. And Fox’s legal team is stacked with seasoned appellate attorneys who surely have their sights set on the Delaware Supreme Court, and maybe even the US Supreme Court, too.
What is Dominion asking for? Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. They say Fox destroyed its reputation and caused officials to cancel contracts because of its lies. CNN recently reported on the growing distrust in voting machines in heavily Republican counties.
The Delaware Superjudicial Trial: Who’s Expected to Be Joined in the Judge’s Room? On Election Statistics, Election Management, and Electoral Ethics
What are the trial logistics? The trial is expected to last five to six weeks and will be overseen by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis, who was appointed to the state bench by a Democratic governor. A panel of 12 jurors and 12 alternates is being seated.
There are cameras in the courtroom, but they are not allowed to video the proceedings. Still photography won’t be allowed inside the courtroom.
Who is expected to testify? Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace are among the expected witnesses.
Both sides are hoping to put on testimony from experts who specialize in election statistics, the security of voting machines, journalism ethics, and more.