Fox News Dominion case: Rupert Murdoch son drops lawsuit against news site as Smartmatic eyes trial
Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and other big names have all avoided being called to testify over 2020 election lies
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Your support makes all the difference.Rupert Murdoch's son has suddenly dropped his lawsuit against Australian news site Crikey days after Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a landmark settlement.
Lachlan Murdoch sued Crikey for defamation last August over a column titled: “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator.”
The suit was dropped on Friday, citing Fox News $787m settlement with Dominion over lies about the 2020 presidential election.
“Crikey has tried to introduce thousands of pages of documents from a defamation case in another jurisdiction, which has now settled,” the statement from Lachlan Murdoch’s legal team said.
“Mr Murdoch remains confident that the court would ultimately find in his favor, however he does not wish to further enable Crikey’s use of the court to litigate a case from another jurisdiction that has already been settled and facilitate a marketing campaign designed to attract subscribers and boost their profits.”
Media pundits are now speculating over the possible fallout from the defamation settlement, with Puck founder Dylan Byers sparking a Twitter frenzy with a column suggesting that Rupert Murdoch could even axe some of his hosts in response to the case.
The Independent has requested comment from Fox News addressing the speculation but there was no immediate change in the network’s programming schedule as of Thursday.
On Tuesday, Fox News reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation lawsuit moments before opening arguments were about to get under way at trial.
Dominion sued Fox News for defamation, alleging that the network gave a platform to and failed to challenge conspiracy theorists that suggested Dominion was engaged in voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Those conspiracies reportedly damaged Dominion’s business and resulted in employees receiving threats from angry Fox News viewers.
In a last-minute deal, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5m to put the issue to bed.
Fox News has other legal troubles brewing with Smartmatic revealing what it will take for it to also settle its case against the network.
The voting technology company’s lawyer said on Thursday it won’t accept any settlement smaller than the same $787m payout and will demand a “full retraction” and “apology” from the network.
Fox News finally covers the Dominion trial, fails to mention how much they’re paying to make it go away
Dominion v Fox News: The people and networks still being sued by voting company over election lies
How the almost-trial of Dominion v Fox exploded into a Succession-worthy finale- Don’t be disappointed by the Fox News vs Dominion outcome – this is just the start
How the almost-trial of Dominion v Fox exploded into a Succession-worthy finale
Mountains of evidence boxes were wheeled into a seventh-floor courtroom on Tuesday morning, moments before lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems planned to eviscerate Fox News and its Fox Corporation leadership for the volley of false claims about the company in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Later that morning, jurors were sworn in. They ordered lunch. Hours later, it was over. And Fox News admitted that statements on its airwaves about Dominion were false, agreeing to pay the voting machine company more than $787m in a settlement that averted one of the biggest-ever defamation trials in American history.
Alex Woodward on the made-for-TV courtroom drama that would never be televised.
The Succession-worthy finale of the Dominion v Fox nearly-trial
A made-for-TV courtroom drama that would never be televised and one of the biggest-yet attempts to hold someone accountable for 2020 election lies ended outside a Delaware courtroom, Alex Woodward writes from Wilmington
Mike Lindell bet $5m no one could disprove his election fraud claims. Now he has to pay
After conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell tried to renege on a promise to pay $5m to anyone who could prove purported evidence of 2020 election fraud was false, a private arbitration panel has ruled that Mr Lindell has made his bed and must lie in it.
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Mike Lindell bet $5m no one could disprove his fraud claim. Now he has to pay
Arbitrators ordered the pro-Trump housewares impresario to pony up the $5m he promised in a 2021 contest
How one man helped bring Fox News and Dominion to a settlement from a European river cruise
A mediator hired late Sunday pushed the two sides toward a $787m settlement that brought a stunning end to the most-watched media libel case in decades, one that sought to put a price on lies told about the 2020 presidential election on conservative America‘s most popular news outlet.
Jerry Roscoe pulled off the astonishing deal while onboard a Danube River cruise with his wife half a world away.
One man helped bring Fox News and Dominion to a settlement from a European cruise
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems pulled back from the brink of a contentious libel trial with a little assist from overseas
Everyone who is being sued by Dominion over election lies
Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle its defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5m on Tuesday — but its legal battles are far from over.
While the Fox News case attracted most of the headlines, Dominion filed a swathe of defamation suits against right-wing networks, lawyers and media personalities in the months after the 2020 election.
Here’s everyone who is being sued by Dominion.
From Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax, everyone Dominion is suing for election lies
Dominion has pending lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN, and Trump allies Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, writes Bevan Hurley
Trump’s election lies cost Fox $787m – will they also cost him the White House in 2024?
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg writes:
For a good portion of the network’s quarter-century on the air, Fox News went by the mantra of “we report, you decide”.
But after the network wholeheartedly embraced Donald Trump in 2016, the reporting became optional because their viewers had already decided.
They decided to believe whatever Trump told them. And when they heard something that contradicted that, they looked elsewhere for more comforting lies.
Two years later, Fox’s audience has remained loyal to Trump, but the twice-impeached ex-president’s lies are still exacting a cost.
Some of that cost may yet to be extracted from Fox’s bottom line.
Another voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, still has a multi-billion dollar lawsuit pending against Fox for many of the same lies that pushed Rupert Murdoch and his organisation to offer more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to get Dominion to drop their case.
But it may be Mr Trump who ultimately pays the highest price.
Trump’s election lies cost Fox $787m – will they also cost him 2024?
The truth-averse right-wing network has been punished for its greed and fear. But the ex-president could be set to pay an even higher price
Trump remains silent on Fox’s Dominion lawsuit settlement
Former president Donald Trump’s social media output in the hours since Fox News reached a $787m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems has included numerous posts promoting a series of digital trading cards he is selling, attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and bizarre complaints about Elon Musk and alleged censorship on Twitter (where Mr Trump’s account has gone unused since it was restored earlier this year).
But Mr Trump has not weighed in on Fox’s decision to offer more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to Dominion rather than allow a Delaware jury to determine how much the right-wing network should pay for broadcasting repeated lies about the company’s products rather than report the truth because it was upsetting their audience.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Trump remains silent on Fox’s Dominion lawsuit settlement
Mr Trump previously called on Fox to continue lying about the 2020 election
MyPillow guy Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5m over debunked election claims
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who is being sued by Dominion Voting Machines, has been ordered to pay $5m to a cyber security expert who debunked his bogus claims about the 2020 elections, according to a new report from CNN.
Mr Lindell pledged to pay the sum to anyone who could disprove his data claiming widespread fraud in Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
An arbitration panel has now reportedly awarded $5m to software expert Robert Zeidman, after he sued Mr Lindell.
In January 2021, Dominion filed a $1.3bn damages claim against Mr Lindell.
The lawsuit alleged that Mr Lindell had “knowingly lied about Dominion to sell more pillows to people who continued tuning in to hear what they wanted to hear about the election”.
A trial date has not yet been set.
How one man helped bring Fox News and Dominion to a settlement from onboard a European river cruise
A mediator hired late Sunday pushed Fox and Dominion toward a $787m settlement that brought a stunning end to the most-watched media libel case in decades.
“It’s a deadline that I always impose because I know that once a jury is empaneled and opening statements are made, then one or other of the parties will dig into their positions,” Jerry Roscoe, of the Washington-based JAMS mediation service, told The Associated Press.
“It makes negotiations much more difficult.”
One man helped bring Fox News and Dominion to a settlement from a European cruise
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems pulled back from the brink of a contentious libel trial with a little assist from overseas
Could Fox News MAGA hosts be fired by Rupert Murdoch following his channel’s $787.5m Dominion defamation settlement?
Murdoch’s executives will give a stern warning and may even look to get rid of hosts who backed Donald Trump’s false election claims, a leading media pundit speculates.
Puck founder Dylan Byers wrote that Mr Murdoch’s leadership team would sit down and warn implicated hosts to ‘be careful’ or may even take a stronger stand and cut them altogether.
The Independent has requested comment from Fox News addressing the speculation
New details emerge from Rupert Murdoch’s deposition
Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch appeared to be rattled after he was deposed by Dominion Voting Systems attorneys, according to a new report in the New York Times.
Fox’s legal counsel Viet Dinh reportedly tried to reassure Mr Murdoch after he was quizzed by Dominion’s lead counsel Justin Nelson in the pre-trial deposition.
“I’m just going to say it. They didn’t lay a finger on you,” Mr Dinh said, according to the Times.
Mr Murdoch then pointed at Mr Nelson, and said: “I think he would strongly disagree with that.”
“Indeed I do,” Mr Nelson replied.
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