Fox Information Media, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled cable group, filed a movement on Tuesday to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit introduced in opposition to it in March by Dominion Voting Methods, an election expertise firm that accused Fox Information of propagating lies that ruined its repute after the 2020 presidential election.
The Dominion lawsuit and an identical defamation declare introduced in February by one other election firm, Smartmatic, have been broadly considered as check instances in a rising authorized effort to battle disinformation within the information media. And it’s one other byproduct of former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless makes an attempt to undermine President Biden’s clear victory.
In a 61-page response filed in Delaware Superior Courtroom, the Fox authorized staff argues that Dominion’s go well with threatened the First Modification powers of a information group to chronicle and assess newsworthy claims in a high-stakes political contest.
“A free press should have the ability to report either side of a narrative involving claims hanging on the core of our democracy,” Fox says within the movement, “particularly when these claims immediate quite a few lawsuits, authorities investigations and election recounts.” The movement provides: “The American folks deserved to know why President Trump refused to concede regardless of his obvious loss.”
Dominion’s lawsuit in opposition to Fox Information offered the circumstances in a unique gentle.
Dominion is among the many largest producers of voting machine tools and its expertise was utilized by greater than two dozen states final 12 months. Its lawsuit described the Fox Information and Fox Enterprise cable networks as energetic individuals in spreading a false declare, pushed by Mr. Trump’s allies, that the corporate had covertly modified vote counts to control ends in favor of Mr. Biden. Legal professionals for Mr. Trump shared these claims throughout televised interviews on Fox packages.
“Lies have penalties,” Dominion’s legal professionals wrote of their preliminary criticism. “Fox bought a false story of election fraud so as to serve its personal business functions, severely injuring Dominion within the course of.” The lawsuit cites situations the place Fox hosts, together with Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, uncritically repeated false claims about Dominion made by Mr. Trump’s legal professionals Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
A consultant for Dominion, whose founder and workers obtained threatening messages after the unfavorable protection, didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday night time.
Fox Information Media has retained two outstanding legal professionals to guide its protection: Charles Babcock, who has a background in media legislation, and Scott Keller, a former chief counsel to Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas. Fox has additionally filed to dismiss the Smartmatic go well with; that protection is being led by Paul D. Clement, a former solicitor common beneath President George W. Bush.
“There are two sides to each story,” Mr. Babcock and Mr. Keller wrote in an announcement on Tuesday. “The press should stay free to cowl either side, or there can be a free press no extra.”
The Fox movement on Tuesday argues that its networks “had a free-speech proper to interview the president’s legal professionals and surrogates even when their claims finally turned out to be unsubstantiated.” It argues that the safety of Dominion’s expertise had been debated in prior authorized claims and media protection, and that the lawsuit didn’t meet the excessive authorized normal of “precise malice,” a reckless disregard for the reality, on the a part of Fox Information and its hosts.
Media organizations, usually, get pleasure from robust protections beneath the First Modification. Defamation fits are a novel tactic within the battle over disinformation, however proponents say the technique has proven some early outcomes. The conservative information outlet Newsmax apologized final month after a Dominion worker, in a separate authorized case, accused the community of spreading baseless rumors about his position within the election. Fox Enterprise canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” a day after Smartmatic sued Fox in February and named Mr. Dobbs as a co-defendant.
Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.