Dominion Sues Fox News for $1.6 Billion

Dominion, the voting machine manufacturer accused by attorneys connected to the Trump campaign of stealing the 2020 election for Joe Biden, has filed a lawsuit against Fox News for its promotion of said accusations. It is the second voting machine company to sue Fox.

Summary

Dominion Voting Systems filed a lawsuit against Fox News, citing the cable network’s statements and coverage of the 2020 election, that Fox “sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes.”

• The voting systems manufacturer is seeking $1.6 billion in damages from Fox News for injury to its reputation.
• Fox’s response called the lawsuit “baseless” and vowed to “vigorously defend” its coverage of the 2020 election.
• This lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed against Fox Business and Fox News hosts by Smartmatic, another manufacturer of voting machines, which resulted in the cancellation of Lou Dobbs’ weekday program.
• Dominion’s filing against Fox comes just days after attorney Sidney Powell, who filed multiple lawsuits claiming election fraud, sought to dismiss the voting machine company’s lawsuit against her, saying her statements on election fraud were protected by the First Amendment and that “no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact.”

• In their coverage of the lawsuit, The Daily Beast called the conspiracy “bizarre”, while acknowledging there were journalists outside of Fox’s opinion lineup who held a skeptical view of the Trump campaign’s allegations of fraud.
• Washington Post created a super-cut of the on-air claims of Powell, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and others cited as evidence in Dominion’s lawsuit, while separate reporting reprinted in the Stamford Advocate referenced the lawsuit as important to the questions of the freedoms and responsibilities of the press (No word on whether they consider the same responsibilities when discussing Russian interference in the 2016 election).
• While Vox has not reported on Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox, Aaron Rupar (who is regularly accused of being a hack), reported on Sidney Powell’s motion to dismiss by saying it is “clearer than ever that Trump allies’ attempt to overthrow the 2020 election was a naked power grab based on a pack of lies.”

• OANN and Newsmax, both of whom were sued in 2020 by Smartmatic, ran wire reports of Dominion’s lawsuit against their rival Fox.
• Reporting in the Washington Examiner highlighted Dominion’s assertion that “the buck stops with Fox” who decided to publish these claims, rather than listing individual Fox News hosts in the lawsuit.
• The Washington Times included a tidbit in their reporting not found in other outlets: the claim in Dominion’s lawsuit saying the false and defamatory coverage of Fox ultimately led to the Jan. 6^th attack on the Capitol.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021