United States: the Fox News channel in court for its treatment of the 2020 presidential election

Trump on Fox News. Star presenters at the channel were sceptical, privately, about alleged vote manipulation in the 2020 presidential election. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

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Fox News, the favorite channel of American conservatives is in turmoil. The American justice has just announced: this television will be judged from April 17 for defamation. At issue: his treatment of the American presidential election in 2020. The channel, a real nugget of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, then claimed on air that the election had been "stolen" by Joe Biden, by means of electronic votes, without really believing the accusations made by Donald Trump.

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It's easier to have good audiences when you give your audience something they want to hear. ». It is this kind of exchange between anchors of the Fox News channel that was revealed by the judicial investigation. In November 2020, the channel relayed accusations that Joe Biden's election had been stolen through electronic voting. Notably via Dominion brand voting machines. The company then filed a defamation lawsuit, seeking $1.6 billion.

Echo

For the American justice, it is "clear that no accusation of fraud against the Dominion company during this election is founded". The network's boss, Rupert Murdoch, himself admitted in a deposition that some of its anchors echoed Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election.

Scepticism

Investigators also showed that star presenters of the channel were skeptical, in private, about alleged manipulation. This did not prevent them from giving the air to conspiracy guests, without contradicting them. Fox News, sued for defamation, invokes the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects media freedom.

► Read also: Murdoch acknowledges that Fox News anchors endorsed false accusations of Trump

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Read on on the same topics:

  • United States
  • Media
  • Justice
  • Donald Trump
  • Freedom of the press
  • Joe Biden
  • USA Elections 2020