In the spirit of Democracy requires and informed and engage citizenry, I’m updating this thread.
By Jeremy Barr and Rachel Weiner - Updated February 17, 2023
… And of Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, Fox’s prime-time roster seemed to share a common opinion during these fraught weeks.
He’s “acting like an insane person,” wrote Sean Hannity, star of the network’s 9 p.m. show, while his 10 p.m. colleague Laura Ingraham concurred: “Such an idiot.”
The messages are part of a cache of internal correspondence and deposition testimony released Thursday in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network filed by Dominion Voting Systems, one of the two election software companies at the center of the conspiracy theories. …
US DOMINION, INC., DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS, INC., and DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS CORPORATION, Plaintiffs,
> v.
> FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC, Defendant.
Case No. N21C-03-257 EMD
CONSOLIDATED PUBLIC VERSION FILED ON FEBRUARY 16, 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES V
INTRODUCTION 1
FACTUAL BACKGROUND 14
A. DominionVotingSystems …….15
B. Prior to Election Day: Setting Up the False Narrative of Fraud……. 16
C. Fox’s Election Day Coverage and Backlash……. 18
D. Election Fraud Conspiracy Theories Abound and Soon Target Dominion……. 20
E. Fox Calls the Election for Biden and Mainstreams the False Narrative that Dominion
Rigged the Election……. 23
F. Fox Continues to Woo Back Viewers and Goes on War Footing with Newsmax… 26
G. This Dominion shit is going to give me a fucking aneurysm……. 29
H. Pressure on Fox Grows Even As Dominion Puts Fox on Notice……. 32
I. Fox Participated in the Narrative……… 39
LEGAL STANDARD……. 44
ARGUMENT……. 46
I. The Defamatory Statements Fox Published About Dominion Are False……. 46
A. Undisputed Evidence Proves the Falsity of Fox’s Statements……. 49
- Dominion Did Not Commit Election Fraud by Rigging the 2020 Presidential Election. ……… 50
- Dominion’s Software and Algorithms Did Not Manipulate Vote Counts in the 2020 Presidential Election……. 63
- Dominion Is Not Owned by a Company Founded in Venezuela to Rig Elections for the Dictator Hugo Chavez……. 73
- Dominion Did Not Pay Kickbacks to Government Officials Who Used Its Machines in the 2020 Presidential Election…… 76
B. Fox’s Accused Statements Are Actionable Allegations of Fact……. 78
II. The Accused Fox Statements Are “Of and Concerning” Dominion……. 78
III. Fox Published the Defamatory Statements……. 82
IV. The Statements Are Defamatory Per……… 85
V. Fox Acted with Actual Malice .87
The Public Record and Dominion’s Communications Demonstrate Fox’s Knowledge of or Reckless Disregard for the Truth……. 92
B. It was Widely Known within Fox that the Allegations were False……. 96
C. Executives Responsible for Fox Programming and Content Acted with Actual Malice… 101
- Fox Has Admitted that Its Executives Participated in the Editorial Process for the Accused Broadcasts During the Relevant Timeframe……. 101
- Fox Has Admitted Editorial Discussion of the Accused Programs Occur at Fox’s Twice-Daily Meetings Among Senior Editorial Leadership……. 102
- Specific Evidence Confirms These Fox Executives Acted With Actual Malice……. 104
D. Hosts, Producers, and Executives with Responsibility for Each Broadcast Knew the Statements were False or Recklessly Disregarded the Truth……. 117
- Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo……. 117
- LouDobbsTonight……. 123
- Justice with Judge Jeanine….… 135
- Fox & Friends……. 139
- Hannity’s November 30 Broadcast….… 141
- Tucker Carlson Tonight’s January 26 Broadcast……. 144
E. Additional Evidence Indicates that Fox’s Executives Acted with Actual Malice……. 148
-
Inherent Improbability/Reliance on Obviously Unreliable Sources……. 148
-
Financial Motive to Lie 153
-
Departure from Journalistic Standards 158
-
Preconceived Narrative. 159
-
Rebroadcast and Refusal to Retract. 161
VI. Affirmative Defenses: DominionIs Entitled to SummaryJudgment Fox’s Neutral Reportage or Newsworthiness Defense and its Fair Report Defense……. 161
A. The Neutral Reportage Privilege Does Not Apply As A Matter of Law……. 163
- The Neutral Reportage Privilege Is Foreclosed by New York Law……. 165
- Federal Constitutional Law Does Not Recognize A “Neutral Reportage” Privilege. 165
- Fox’s Case for Neutral Reportage Has Only Gotten Weaker Since the Court’s Motion to Dismiss Ruling……. 167
B. Even if the Edwards Doctrine Did Apply, Fox Cannot Meet Its Requirements……. 169
C. The Narrow and Well-Defined “Fair Report” Privilege Likewise Does Not Apply……. 172
- The Court Already Correctly Held That the Fair Report Privilege Applies Only to Substantially Accurate Reports of Pending Proceedings……. 172
- None of the Defamatory Statements Is a Substantially Accurate Report of Pending Proceedings……. 174
CONCLUSION……. 176
As they say the plot thickens.
The tragedy is, FOX has been focused on brainwashing people with fabricate hostility and slander and lying about scientific facts since it’s inception,
been easy to watch, especially in the years I worked construction and got to listen to the crap daily.
So much time spent on creating strife and counter productive choices . . .
It’s good that at least a part of it is being exposed.
