A few words for the obvious. A few words that could carry considerable financial weight. ” Yes. They bonded. » Testifying under oath, tycoon Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Fox News channel, admitted that several television stars knowingly endorsed Donald Trump’s lies about alleged fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. in court documents released Monday, Feb. 27, as part of the defamation lawsuit filed by voting machine maker Dominion Voting Systems. The company is claiming $1.6 billion in civil suits from Fox News and is seeking to demonstrate a conscious desire to damage its reputation.
Using extensive archives, consisting of text messages and internal channel emails, Dominion lawyers pieced together the business and political management of Fox News during late 2020 and early 2021. beyond the individual or corporate responsibilities to be established during the trial which will begin in April, this story once again raises the question of the deep nature of Fox News, far from traditional information practices, and of its influence in the drift of the American right.
In a statement released Monday, Fox News said Dominion lawyers have adopted “an extreme and unsubstantiated reading of libel law that could prevent journalists from reporting the basic facts”. In difficulty, the Murdoch group is trying to circumscribe the judicial fire and limit the scope of responsibility to a few individuals, to preserve management. The group tries above all to shelter behind the first amendment of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of expression. A strategy that Dominion lawyers want to dismantle. The latter insist on the constant role of supervision exercised by Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, his son, executive director at the head of Fox Corporation. Suzanne Scott, president of Fox News Media, acknowledged that the two men willingly participate in the editorial board held each afternoon at 3 p.m.
Confidential information on political spots
During the presidential campaign, the Murdochs helped Donald Trump. The channel provided Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser to the outgoing president, with confidential information on upcoming political spots from Joe Biden, his opponent. But on election night, November 3, 2020, Fox News symbolically broke the tie with Donald Trump, by first announcing his defeat in Arizona, a key state. “My friend Jared Kushner called me saying, ‘This is terrible’. and I could hear Trump’s voice in the background, shouting,” explained Rupert Murdoch in his deposition. However, two days later, on November 5, Sean Hannity, one of the network’s evening stars, declared : “It will be impossible to know one day the real, fair and precise electoral results, it is a fact. » The channel’s legal adviser, Viet Dinh, wrote at the time: “Hannity is getting terribly close to the line with her comments and her guests tonight. »
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