Fox Corp. Seen Withholding Evidence in Run-Up to Dominion Voting Trial

Tupac Shakur was murdered, meaning he's been gone longer than the 25-year-old was alive. Throughout his life, the rapper's ambitions warred with his personal struggles as his portrayal in the media fought to outshine his rising star onscreen. Since his death, many have tried to encapsulate how his legendary music career and passion for acting influenced hip-hop long after he died.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Let no one deny it: Rupert Murdoch is clever like a fox. He’s slyer than his adversaries in mainstream media. They still think in real-world terms. But Murdoch thinks in terms of the world that he’s created — the world of fake news, of lies that play because they carry the ring of vengeful mythology (life as a Charles Bronson film that never ends). The world that Fox News pretends is reality. You could make a case that in recent weeks, Murdoch’s circus of happy-talk dystopian propaganda (otherwise known as any random half hour of Fox News) took a major hit. The release of documents subpoenaed during the Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News revealed something that was, or should be, profoundly embarrassing to the network: that there are moments when its star huckster, Tucker Carlson, actually tells the truth (at least in private). The revelation that Carlson, along with a number of Fox News executives, peddled Donald Trump’s crackpot assertion that he won the 2020 election not because they believed it, but because they thought they had to go along with what their viewers wanted to hear, made the Fox team look like craven cowards. The lawsuit never made it to trial, but because those documents were leaked you could say the damage was done. And to keep the trial from happening, Murdoch had to cough up the mother of all defamation settlements: $787.5 million. 

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. has put increasing amounts of money behind news and sports in recent years. But that doesn’t mean the company is completely free of drama. A landmark $787.5 million settlement made Tuesday between Fox and the voting-technology company Dominion Voting Systems does not end what is likely to be a period of tumult for the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcasting network. The payment to Dominion to keep an explosive investigation into how Fox News disseminated conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election out of the public sphere does nothing to alleviate another wave of scrutiny likely to come from another, similar lawsuit.

John Poulos, the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems, defended the $787.5 billion settlement with Fox News and Fox Corp., telling Good Morning America that “all of the facts we had discovered during the case had already come to light.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper stridently referred to Fox News paying $787.5 million Tuesday to settle a looming legal case about Fox News’ false characterizations of Dominion Voting Systems’ equipment in regard to the 2020 election as “one of the ugliest and most embarrassing moments in the history of journalism.”

Fox News has settled Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned organization, averting a lengthy, expensive and certain to be embarrassing trial.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corporation and Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle a much-discussed $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit mere hours after a jury had been seated to consider the matter in Delaware’s Superior Court. Attorneys for the two sides had been set to deliver opening statements to the jury. But that activity was delayed Tuesday after Judge Eric M. Davis called for a lunch break. “The parties have resolved their case,” the judge said. The legal case had already generated intense scrutiny, with documents, emails and texts from senior Fox executives and well-known Fox News anchors and hosts all suggesting many people at the company knew they were disseminating conspiracy theories around the 2020 presidential election and Dominion Voting’s role in it.

A jury has been seated in the Dominion vs. Fox News trial, kicking off at last what is being billed as the “defamation trial of the century,” with the prospect of the network’s star hosts and Rupert Murdoch himself taking the stand.

After a one-day delay and amidst whispers of settlement talks, Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation trial against Fox News is set to begin Tuesday in Wilmington, DE.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Roku City wants to colonize Times Square. The purple-hued metropolis, the backdrop of the popular screen-saver Roku introduced in 2017, is invading New York City’s so-called “Crossroads of the World” in a bid to make the streaming platform more top of mind in the Big Apple just as the advertising world gets ready to hear pitches from a variety of new-tech video players. Roku wants to remind both consumers and advertisers about its relevance in the weeks leading up to the NewFronts, a set of annual presentations by digital-media outlets to advertisers. In 2023, streaming has gained new scale and Madison Avenue is looking for ways to weave commercials into the consumers’ broadband experience. Digital advertising is projected to grow 9% in 2023, according to Interpublic Group’s Magna, compared with a decline of 4% for linear advertising formats.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Rupert Murdoch can breathe easy for at least one more day. The judge overseeing the much-scrutinized defamation trial brought against Fox News and its parent, Fox Corp., has delayed its start by a day, according to a statement issued by Delaware’s Superior Court, where the case is being heard. The decision is sure to raise speculation that the two sides may be seeking a settlement. “The Court has decided to continue the start of the trial, including jury selection, until Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. I will make such an announcement tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 7E,” Judge Eric Davis said in a note Sunday evening.

The start of the Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation trail against Fox News that was to start Monday has now been delayed until Tuesday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The greatest show Fox News may ever put on is about to start. Imagine a Fox News program that utilizes the talents of the no-nonsense news anchor Bret Baier along with those of the opinion host Tucker Carlson. One that also puts anchor “The Five” mainstays Dana Perino and Jeanine Pirro into the mix, along with business anchor and commentator Maria Bartiromo. One that features possible appearances by Fox News executives like Suzanne Scott, the CEO of the operation, and Jay Wallace, its top news executive. A program that tops it all off with a potential cameo by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, two of the controlling shareholders of Fox News’ media-conglomerate parent, Fox Corporation.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Brian Stelter is getting ready to write a new chapter in his ongoing analysis of Fox News Channel. The former anchor of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” is gearing up for “Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy,” a look at the Fox Corp. cable outlet’s trajectory following the 2020 election and through the much-scrutinized defamation trial brought against it by Dominion Voting Systems. That court proceeding is slated to open Monday. “Network of Lies” is billed as a sequel of sorts to Stelter’s 2020 book “Hoax,” which offered a deep look behind the mechanics of how Fox News Channel produces its news coverage and opinion programming. Stelter’s new book proposes to examine how Fox News proceeded after the election of President Joe Biden and how it oriented itself after President Donald Trump left office. The book, published by One Signal, an imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Atria division, is scheduled to debut in November of 2023.

As Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News heads to a trial next week, the judge in the case placed limits on what attorneys can and cannot bring up before the jury.

Fox News has reached a settlement with Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil, who filed a defamation lawsuit over a Lou Dobbs tweet and broadcast linking him to rigging the 2020 presidential election.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor As Fox Corp. prepares to fight a looming and high-profile defamation case, it has agreed to settle another. The company, which owns Fox News, has reached a confidential agreement to resolve a defamation case levied against it by Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil that alleged Fox News and former host Lou Dobbs had harmed Khalil’s reputation by stating he and three others developed programs and machines to rig the 2020 presidential election. “This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides. We have no further comment,” Fox News said in a statement after being contacted by Variety. A letter filed Saturday to Judge Louis L. Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York informed authorities that the parties in the case “have reached a confidential agreement to resolve this matter. The parties anticipate filing a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice early next week.”

Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” with Colin Jost and Michael Che took multiple swings at Fox News and Donald Trump on the show.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch could be called upon to testify in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit suit against Fox News and Fox Corp., per a Delaware judge who says he is not against calling upon the media moguls. If the attorneys for Dominion issue trial subpoenas to force a testimony from the Fox leaders, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said at a public hearing Wednesday he, “would not quash it and I would compel them to come,” per NBC News. “It would be my discretion that they come,” Davis said. Dominion’s attorneys requested in a letter to the court Wednesday that live testimony be required from Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Fox board member and former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Fox exec Viet Dinh. Davis approved the request to compel each of them to testify, according to NBC News.

Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corporation board member Paul Ryan and Fox Corp. executive Viet Dinh can be compelled to testify in Dominion’s upcoming defamation trial against Fox News, a judge said on Wednesday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The new New York studio that Nexstar Media Group built for Elizabeth Vargas’ nascent NewsNation program is so big, the anchor believes she could do five cartwheels across if called upon to do so. Starting Monday night, the company begins the process of figuring out if such rigorous calisthenics will be necessary. TV-news aficionados likely know Vargas from her 15-year stint as a co-anchor on ABC News’ “20/20,” but on Monday night, she will jump right into the fray in the information wars, with a program at 6 p.m. eastern – a time slot that has become more competitive in recent months. At MSNBC, for example, Ari Melber’s “The Beat” has become one of that network’s most-watched programs. Late-afternoon has become more of a cable-news battlefield as viewers who have learned to work from home after the coronavirus pandemic tune in earlier to get a recap of the day’s events.