Allegations concerning the integrity of the 2020 elections were broadcasted on Fox News which has resulted in in the company to sue the involved parties. Having provided the election machines in 28 states for the 2020 presidential elections, Dominion argued that Fox was spreading conspiracy theories that those machines might have been used to rig the elections in favor of Joe Biden.
The voting system company alleges that Fox knowingly spread false information and it’s therefore suing Fox News Network and its parent company Fox Corporation.
Dominion is seeking 1. 6billion in damages for the defamatory campaign. In order to successfully prove that Fox is responsible, Dominion has to convince the jury that the company acted with “actual malice”.
Allegedly, the voting company had a conversation with Fox News President and executive editor Jay Wallace concerning the claims and urged them to retract the false accusations since they were damaging the company’s reputation. Despite all those efforts Fox refused to retract the false statements.
“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion claimed in its lawsuit. “Fox sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process. If this case does not rise to the level of defamation by a broadcaster, then nothing does.”
Fox News’ argument is that it was acting in accordance to the First Amendment which states that “the public had access to newsmakers and newsworthy information that would help foster ‘uninhibited, robust, and wide-open’ debate on rapidly developing events of unparalleled importance.”
Defamations cases of this kind are very common in the US but it is quite difficult to prove libel in the American legal system. The voting company claims that it has enough evidence in the form of texts and emails which prove that Fox news producers and directors had no evidence to back up the accusations but proceeded to air the news anyway.
Observers believe that if Fox News loses, this might limit free press in the near future.
