Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch can be forced to testify in the Fox News defamation trial scheduled to start on April 17, a judge said Wednesday.
Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, after network hosts and guests pushed false conspiracy theories linking Dominion to voter fraud. Fox News, which contends it was just reporting on the conspiracies rather than presenting them as factual, submitted a letter on Tuesday with the names of potential witnesses, including hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Maria Bartiromo and Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott; Rupert Murdoch and his son, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, were not on the list.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fox News had argued that Rupert Murdoch and other network executives didn't need to testify because they already gave filmed depositions, and in a statement Wednesday, a Fox Corp. spokesperson said Dominion "demanding witnesses who had nothing to do with the challenged broadcasts is just the latest example of their political crusade in search of a financial windfall."
During the discovery process, emails and messages from Fox News hosts and executives were made public, showing that privately, many didn't believe in the conspiracies about voter fraud being peddled, and mocked the people pushing them; host Tucker Carlson, for example, called Sidney Powell, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, a "complete nut."
-
The UK’s ‘wallaby boom’Under the Radar The Australian marsupial has ‘colonised’ the Isle of Man and is now making regular appearances on the UK mainland
-
Fast food is no longer affordable to low-income AmericansThe explainer Cheap meals are getting farther out of reach
-
‘The money to fix this problem already exists’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
What a rising gold price says about the global economyThe Explainer Institutions, central banks and speculators drive record surge amid ‘loss of trust’ in bond markets and US dollar
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
Will latest Russian sanctions finally break Putin’s resolve?Today's Big Question New restrictions have been described as a ‘punch to the gut of Moscow’s war economy’
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
China’s rare earth controlsThe Explainer Beijing has shocked Washington with export restrictions on minerals used in most electronics
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
The struggles of Aston Martin: burning cash not rubberIn the Spotlight The car manufacturer, famous for its association with the James Bond franchise, is ‘running out of road’
