On Tuesday, the trial begins in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the conspiracy theories the right-wing network promoted about the company’s voting machines in the weeks following the 2020 election. Fox’s coverage overlapped with and augmented then-President Donald Trump’s false claims that he had actually won the election and that massive election fraud, including by Dominion, had “rigged” the results against him.
Delaware Superior Court judge Eric Davis denied Fox News and Fox Corp.’s motions for summary judgment to dismiss the case on March 31. He granted in part Dominion’s summary judgment motion, ruling that Fox published false statements about the company which harmed it. The trial will focus on whether Fox acted with actual malice in publishing those falsehoods and is reportedly “expected to last for weeks.”
Dominion’s filings in the case, based on internal communications, text messages, and depositions, reveal that Fox’s top executives and stars – including Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch – were aware that Trump’s election fraud claims were bogus, but promoted them anyway in hopes of diffusing a viewer revolt.
Media Matters chronicled Fox’s attacks on Dominion when they were first launched in November 2020, and has reported extensively on how filings in the case shed new light on Fox’s corrupt and deceitful propaganda operation. Highlights from our archive are below; for more, check out our website about the lawsuit, FoxKnew.com.