Leading up to the trial, Dominion released masses of internal communications between Fox executives, hosts and producers revealing how the nation’s most-watched cable news network initiated a strategy to win back viewers who dropped out of Mr. Trump. loss. The reports tell the story of a frenetic battle within Fox as it began to lose viewership to competitors, such as Newsmax, who were more willing to report on and endorse false claims about a Dominion machine plot to defeat Mr. Trump’s election. to steal.
Producers called pro-Trump dudes like Sidney Powell and Rudolph W. Giuliani “gold” for ratings and acknowledged that the public did not want to hear about topics such as the possibility of a peaceful transition from a Trump administration to a Biden administration.
That communication has shown how employees at Fox expressed serious doubts about and sometimes contempt for Mr. Trump and his allies as they spread lies about voter fraud, questioning the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s election. Some at Fox derided Mr. Trump and his lawyers as “crazy” and under the influence of drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms.
Some Fox hosts privately described their colleagues as “reckless” for endorsing Mr. Trump’s false claims and acknowledging there was “no evidence” to back them up. Yet Fox continued to provide a platform for election deniers for weeks, despite doubts about their credibility. Dominion disputed statements made across multiple programs on multiple nights. Typically, defamation cases only involve one contested statement.
The process would have been a spectacle. mr. Murdoch, whose family controls the Fox media empire, would be one of Dominion’s first witnesses this week. Star anchors including Sean Hannity, Mr. Carlson and Ms. Bartiromo would likely be called upon at other points.
Even the most successful media trials of the last generation—Ariel Sharon v. Time and General William C. Westmoreland v. CBS, both in the 1980s—missed the most explosive elements of this case, which raised weighty questions about protection of the First Amendment. the media offers and whether one of the most influential forces in conservative politics should pay a price for amplifying disinformation.
Both cases were also settled out of court.
In recent days, Fox has been asking questions about Dominion’s claims. On Monday, it challenged Dominion’s value, citing a recent legal filing in which the company lowered part of its request for compensation. Fox lawyers also expressed doubts about the damage Dominion suffered, saying the company acknowledged it had made a profit in recent years.
