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.
A spokeswoman for Dominion declined to comment on the prospect of settlement talks and Fox representatives could not be reached for immediate comment. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages.
At issue in the jury trial is whether Fox News deliberately amplified conspiracy theories that attributed allegations of vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election to Dominion, even though many Fox executives and anchors knew full well, or at the very least suspected, they were complete hokum. Multiple authorities have determined that Joe Biden won the election over Donald Trump, but Dominion alleges Fox News caused more than a billion-and-a-half dollars worth of damage when it discussed claims that Dominion had swayed the election, then repeated those statements and refused to engage in efforts to set the record straight. Fox News faces a second defamation suit from Smartmatic, another voting technology firm, that is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.
Dominion appears eager for its legal moment. “In the coming weeks, we will prove Fox spread lies causing enormous damage to Dominion,” the company said in a statement last week. “We look forward to trial.”
The case has already spurred a raft of bizarre disclosures. A cache of depositions, emails and texts has revealed that many Fox producers, anchors and executives were skeptical about the false claims around the election. Some executives believed anchor Maria Bartiromo, in particular, was prone to disseminating wacky statements on her programs and on social media. In a pre-trial deposition, Bartiromo said she still wasn’t sure whether allegations made against Dominion were accurate or not. Rupert Murdoch acknowledged in one deposition that he felt some of his hosts “endorsed” the false claims, and admitted he had the authority to keep lying Trump surrogates who espoused the theories off of Fox’s shows. “I could have. But I didn’t,” he said, according to a Dominion court filing.
And Dominion has, so far, enjoyed some distinct advantages. Judge Davis has suggested Fox has withheld evidence to which Dominion was entitled and threatened to appoint an outside attorney to ensure Fox grants access. And he has already ruled that Dominion doesn’t have to prove the statements Fox News repeated were false. The jury is left to decide on whether the company did so with actual malice and, if so, what damages should be awarded.
Even though Fox seems poised to fight, it may risk damage to its brand as the court proceedings linger. Each appearance by a Fox executive or personality will likely generate its own separate news cycle and the revelations and testimony will probably pull back the curtain around Fox’s internal procedures and news judgement. Even so, a lot has been made public, and ratings at Fox News — one of the top measures of success at the company — have remained steady and the bulk of the network’s lineup continues to beat rivals MSNBC and CNN handily in terms of overall viewership.
