In the end, it was Rupert Murdoch’s Fox movie that refused to settle during a long investigation marked by the persistent and devastating revelations of knowingly false allegations made by its journalists, willing to give credence to a 2020 election conspiracy theory rigged by the Dominion, a product that slipped many used machines. To count the votes: Just as the first hearing was about to begin with the public sitting for hours in a Delaware courtroom and the 12 selected jurors in their seats Friday, Judge Eric Davis announces an agreement in the extreme between the parties: Fox admits he made false claims and pays damages $787.5 million to gain control of the Dominion to compensate it for the image and commercial damage it has caused with its slander.

The company had requested twice (1.6 billion) but still declared itself satisfied“We’ve shown that the truth still matters and lies have consequences, and don’t get away with it,” Dominion’s chief attorney said triumphantly. Justin NelsonWhile the CEO of the company, John Paulos He said the conservative television network “admits that it lied and apologized”. Indeed, to date, Murdoch’s press releases have been limited to acknowledging that it has spread some false information but without apology. It is not clear whether there were personal apologies from Rupert Murdoch who admitted in the testimony he gave during the investigation that he never believed in the “stolen election” thesis but also admitted that he did nothing to stop his network’s radio conductors who continued to spread false theses: they say they They do not want to anger their Trumpian viewers and avoid an exodus towards far-right broadcasters.

Even without express My faultMoreover, the press release of FoxBy far, Donald Trump’s most powerful megaphone sounds not only as an admission of guilt, but also as a repudiation of the bloodline of the former president who continues to insist on the (false) premise of stealing the election from Joe Biden: «Here we hope this amicable solution that avoids the divisive process helps The country needs to move on and put these issues behind it.” Lawyers probably Fox He accepted a long-rejected plea bargain to avoid exposing Robert himself, his son Lachlan and the network’s most popular anchor, Who Tucker Carlson to Sean Hannity to Maria Bartiromo, in agonizing public hearings in the courtroom, before an angry judge after learning Fox’s lawyers had lied to deny that the ancient patriarch of the Murdoch dynasty held relevant positions in the network: only honorary ones, they said. Instead, Robert takes over as CEO Fox News: a discovery that prompts the enraged Chief Justice to summon Murdoch and even Lachlan for what would surely have been rigorous interrogations and appoint a private master in charge of investigating possible attempts by network television lawyers to mislead and conceal evidence. With the risk of judicial consequences also for these lawyers.

The settlement closes this convulsive legal case, but it doesn’t put an end to Fox’s legal woes, which will now have to face a similar lawsuit to Dominion’s. symantecInc., another voting machine manufacturer that has been slandered by Trump advocates and network television. Maybe another stressful deal. But even for a Dominion attorney, there was still a long way to go. Reinforce it Fox Now they will be able to more easily corner other subjects who have been called to account for their slander: Trump collaborators and lawyers like Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell and businessman Mike Lindell And other far-right TV networks that freely spread theses of stolen elections conspiracy theories: Newsmax and One America News.