Irish Examiner view: Lawsuit over US election a threat to rightist media

The ruling is no guarantee that Fox Corp or any of the other defendants will be found guilty but legal and media experts in the US believe Fox could be in trouble

President Joe Biden: In the aftermath of his election, the American right-wing media turned into something an ostensibly lawless place where baseless conspiracy theories  were fed to viewers daily. Picture: J Scott Applewhite/AP

A lawsuit in the US, taken by the manufacturer of vote-counting machines that were later alleged to have rigged the 2020 election in favour of Joe Biden, looks set to have a dramatic impact on some of America’s right-wing news media.

Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines to 28 states during the election, was last month given the go-ahead by a judge in Delaware to sue Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News, in a case that could directly draw owners Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch into the spotlight.

Dominion is suing Fox Corp (and it has already filed lawsuits against Fox News, as well as the One America Network and Newsmax) and the Murdochs in particular in a $1.6bn lawsuit, which claims they allowed Fox News to amplify false claims the company had rigged the election in Biden’s favour.

Wild West

In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, the American right-wing media turned into something akin to the Wild West, an ostensibly lawless place where baseless conspiracy theories about dodgy voting machines, dead Venezuelan leaders, and suitcases stuffed full of illegitimate ballots were fed to viewers daily.

At the time, it seemed there was little consequence for
peddling these increasingly outrageous claims, but the three networks, and now Fox Corp as well, are facing a day of reckoning with a string of billion-dollar lawsuits against them. 

Of course, the Delaware ruling is no guarantee that Fox Corp or any of the other defendants will be found guilty but Judge Eric Davis made it clear this was not a frivolous action being taken by Dominion. Legal and media experts in the US now believe Fox could be in trouble.

The right-wing media will eagerly await the outcome.