United States: Fox News will pay $ 800 million to avoid a defamation lawsuit

The Fox News studios in New York (illustration image). AP - Mark Lennihan

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1 min

There will be no Fox News trial. The ultra-conservative American news channel has reached a financial settlement with the Dominion company, which was suing it for defamation for claiming that it had contributed to an alleged rigging of the results of the presidential election in 2020.

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With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin

Anywhere in the world, lying is wrong. In the United States, it can also be expensive. Very expensive, even. Nearly $800 million. That's the amount Fox News agrees to pay to voting machine company Dominion.

After the 2020 presidential election, several of the network's star presenters claimed that the machines had helped skew the election results. The problem is that it was false and above all, the people concerned said it on air knowing it full well.

Exchanges of messages revealed by the investigation prove this beyond any doubt. A defamation lawsuit would have resulted in public testimony from these stars of the conservative ecosystem and especially from their big boss, media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Hard to imagine for one of the most powerful men in the world who ended up giving in.

Dominion will therefore receive a sum equivalent to about ten times its estimated value. Above all, the agreement is accompanied by Fox's explicit acknowledgement that false information has been broadcast by the channel claiming to be attached to the highest standards of journalism. On the other hand, it will not go so far as to force the house stars to say so on the air.

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• United States
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