The stakes are high for Fox News. If the chain is found guilty of defamation, it could potentially have to pay around $1 billionsummarizesAFP Nicole Hemmer, associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University and media scholar.

It’s not enough to put them out of business, but enough to have a real impact on their future plans and their overall financial health.she adds about the pearl of the empire of magnate Rupert Murdoch, a sounding board for the ideological struggles of the conservatives.

Fox News faces a $1.6 billion fine

In all, Dominion Voting Systems, which operated in 28 states during the 2020 election, is seeking $1.6 billion in damages in a civil court in the state of Delaware (east), where jury selection began in the morning, according to CNN.

A huge sum, but at the peak, according to the company, of the prejudice of having been featured on Fox News, America’s most-watched cable channel the mean one of a invented story after the 2020 presidential election lost by Donald Trump, she wrote in her complaint.

In a tense atmosphere, Donald Trump accused the Biden camp of cheating without any evidence of any kind. His advisers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell pointed the finger at Dominion on Fox News, presenting the company as being linked to the regime of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

A test for freedom of expression

The trial is closely followed in the United States, where it is seen as a test of both the freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and the fight against misinformation.

The case is considered solid and the company has already won a round when Judge Eric Davis stated in a March 31 order that it was crystal clear that no claims will be made on Dominion in the 2020 election [n’était] TRUE.

But media convictions for defamation are rare in the United States because the plaintiff must demonstrate a willful intent to disseminate false information to harm them.

The jury must unanimously find Fox News guilty after hearings at which the network’s main stars were due to testify. Dominion Voting Systems, also known as Fox Corporation founder Rupert Murdoch, 92, and his son, CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Fox News, which is regularly accused of repeating conspiracy theories, wants to make the trial an emblematic case for press freedom.

It was legitimate for the chain to give the floor to the Trump camp when it challenged the vote and essential to the search for truth give all parties the opportunity to express themselves.

But the affair resulted in an embarrassing unpacking for Fox News, with the release of exchanges of emails or text messages showing little, if any, belief within the chain and its parent company Fox Corporation in the scenario of a rigged election Chief Rupert Murdoch.

A really crazy stuff. And harmfulhe wrote in an email entitled Check out Giuliani!to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.

The numerous messages obtained in the course of the proceedings, which also come from stars of the station such as Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, are at the center of the plaintiff’s argument that Fox News deliberately lied so as not to lose its viewers.

On the contrary, the chain accuses Dominion Voting Systems of having made a shortened and one-sided selection.

Jury selection is due to conclude this week, and the trial is set to move into the center of things from Monday.