Fox News’ Howard Kurtz gave a three-minute rundown on the biggest developments from the pre-trial hearings for Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
The MediaBuzz host — who was previously forbidden from speaking about the case but has since been permitted to cover it — announced on Sunday that he will travel to Delaware for the beginning of the trial.
“Let’s face it, much of the mainstream media is rather openly rooting for Fox to lose,” Kurtz said. “I can assure you that I will provide fair and down-the-middle coverage of this $1.6 billion suit about coverage of false election fraud claims in 2020, despite the fact that I work here. And with that, it’s been a very rough week for Fox.”
Kurtz proceeded to dive into last week’s news that Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis sanctioned Fox News, both for their lack of clarity on Rupert Murdoch’s corporate officer position, and for allegations that Fox’s legal team withheld evidence relevant to the case. Kurtz noted that Fox’s attorney has apologized to Davis for the “misunderstanding” about Murdoch, though Fox could face a special master probe over the Maria Bartiromo tapes revealed by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who is also suing the network.
The recap also acknowledged how Davis limited Fox’s defense arguments by determining that they cannot argue that it was newsworthy for them to air the false 2020 claims spewed by Donald Trump and his allies. At the same time, Davis told Dominion they have very narrow leeway for invoking the January 6th Capitol Riot as they make their case.
Here’s Fox News’ latest statement on the Dominion suit, which Kurtz shared with his audience:
Dominion’s lawsuit is a political crusade in search of a financial windfall, but the real cost would be cherished first amendment rights. While Dominion has pushed irrelevant and misleading information to generate headlines, FOX News remains steadfast in protecting the rights of a free press, given a verdict for Dominion and its private equity owners would have grave consequences for the entire journalism profession.
Watch above via Fox News.
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