After jury selection, preliminary arguments from both sides were scheduled for Monday, but Judge Eric Davis postponed the proceedings by one day, to Tuesday, in Delaware Superior Court in Wilmington.

No reason was given, but according to the Wall Street Journal, owned like Fox News by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, "Fox pushed at the last moment to settle amicably the dispute between it and Dominion Voting Systems."

Whatever the financial terms, a deal would save the conservatives' favorite channel, its parent company Fox Corporation and the Murdoch family from suffering "the defamation lawsuit of the century" as the New York Times called it Monday . And to Rupert Murdoch, 92, the prospect of perhaps having to testify on the stand.

"The Villain"

A trial will be closely watched in the United States, where it is seen as a test for the limits of free speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution, as well as for the fight against disinformation.

In total, Dominion Voting Systems, which operated in 28 states during the 2020 election, is seeking $1.6 billion in damages in this civil court.

A person walks past the Fox News offices in New York, March 9, 2023 © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

A staggering sum but up according to the company of the prejudice for having been presented on the most watched channel of American cable as "the villain" of a "fabricated story" after the presidential election of November 2020 lost by Donald Trump, she writes in her complaint.

In a tense atmosphere, the Republican accused without evidence the Biden camp of fraud of all kinds. And his advisers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, pointed the finger at Dominion almost daily on Fox News.

During the pre-trial phase, Justice Eric Davis found it "crystal clear that no claim about Dominion in the 2020 election (was) true." Dominion points to twenty excerpts that he considers defamatory.

But the company will have to establish a deliberate intention to lie at Fox News and the jury will have to decide unanimously for a conviction.

"Really crazy"

Essential in the conservative camp, and regularly accused of echoing conspiracy theories, Fox News plays big and wants to make the trial an emblematic case of press freedom.

For the channel, it was legitimate to give the floor to the Trump camp when it contested the vote and "essential for the search for the truth" to let all parties speak.

But the procedure has already resulted in an embarrassing unpacking for Fox, its stars and its executives, with the publication of email or text message exchanges showing that within the network and its parent company Fox Corporation, there was little belief in the scenario of a rigged election.

Rupert Murdoch, president of News Corp and Fox News, on July 13, 2017 in Sun Valley, © Idaho Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

A "really crazy thing. And damaging," wrote the big boss, Rupert Murdoch, in an email entitled "watching Giuliani!", to the boss of Fox News, Suzanne Scott.

The many messages, obtained as part of the procedure and also from stars of the channel, such as Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, are at the heart of the plaintiff's argument, according to which Fox News was lying deliberately, so as not to lose its viewers acquired to Donald Trump.

"We must fire her," said Tucker Carlson, at the sight of a tweet from a journalist of the channel brushing aside the accusations of fraud.

"It hurts the company considerably. The share price is falling. It's not a joke," he added.

Fox News accuses Dominion Voting Systems of making a truncated and biased selection of messages.

The trial, if it takes place, is due to conclude at the end of May.

© 2023 AFP