Donald Trump’s favorite network Fox pays $787 million for lying during 2020 election

Fox NewsDonald Trump’s favorite network and voice of conservatives in the United States, on Tuesday reached an agreement under which will pay nearly $800 million TO Voting systems for the domain to avoid going to court in the lawsuit filed by the voting machine company, which allegedly revealed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.

The surprising deal was finalized moments before initial discussions began, putting a abrupt end to a case that had embarrassed Fox News for several months and had raised the possibility that the founder of the chain Rupert Murdoch and renowned emcees like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity will testify.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequencesDominion attorney Justin Nelson told reporters gathered outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis unveiled the settlement.

Outside of the promised $787.5 million payment to Colorado-based Dominion, it is not known what other consequences would Fox face. The chain acknowledged in a statement that “court rulings ruled that some claims about Dominion were false,” but no apology was offered.

On the air, within about six minutes of coverage, the network acknowledged the $787.5 million deal and then moved on to other topics.

“We hope that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, rather than going through the acrimony of a contentious processallow the country to put these problems behind themFox said its attorneys and representatives did not provide further comments or details about the settlement.

Dominion CEO John Poulos did not respond to a reporter’s question as to whether “there was anything else besides money.”

a significant amount

The agreement represents a significant amount even for a company the size of Fox about 25% of revenue for $2.96 billion that the chain reported last year before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, a figure often used to provide an estimate of a company’s cash flow.

The deal also follows the $965 million prize a Connecticut jury awarded last year against Alex Jones spread false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Along with other lawsuits in the pipeline, the settlement proves it’s there a real financial risk for the conservative press That promotes conspiracy theories.

What remains unknown is how much the ruling will do to dissuade them. Also in the shadow of the Dominion case, the host Fox Tucker Carlson has spread his alternative theories about what happened during the uprising on January 6, 2021.

The request

Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billionclaiming the chain has damaged the company’s reputation push false conspiracy theories which ensured that their teams they changed their vote which were for former President Donald Trump to benefit Democrat Joe Biden.

In an earlier ruling, Davis said it was “absolutely clear” that none of the claims he had made Trump allies spread via Fox they were true.

Dominion was determined to prove in a lawsuit that Fox acted in bad faith when broadcasting allegations he knew were false, or with an “irresponsible disregard” for the truth.

Test

He filed a large number of internal emails and text messages showing that network executives and presenters they knew the allegations were not trueeven as the falsehoods were broadcast on the shows of hosts Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeannine Pirro.

Records released as part of the lawsuit show that Fox aired the claims in part to win back viewership the network lost after election night. declared correctly that Biden had won in the Arizona dispute.

In testimony, Murdoch said he believed in the 2020 election they had been honest and hadn’t been stolen from Trump.

“Fox knew the truth,” Dominion said in court documents. “I knew the allegations against Dominion were ‘extravagant’, ‘crazy’, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘extravagant’. However, he used the power and influence of his platform to further that false story.”

Associated press

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