Maria Bartiromo to be Deposed in Dominion Voting Systems Lawsuit against Fox News
Next week, Maria Bartiromo, anchor of Fox programs “Mornings with Maria” and “Sunday Morning Futures,” is scheduled to appear for a deposition in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News. This comes after other network hosts including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Jeanine Pirro were also called to answer questions in the lawsuit seeking $1.6 billion in damages from the cable news network. Dominion alleges that Fox News and Fox Business made false claims that its Voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, top executives of Fox Corp., are also expected to be deposed due to the lawsuit against the parent company.
The Dominion lawsuit has garnered attention from First Amendment experts and advocates because of the extensive list of examples presented by Dominion, showing that Fox network hosts repeatedly made false claims even after the facts had been revealed. Typically, libel lawsuits focus on a single falsehood, and media companies are generally protected by the First Amendment. Settlements or quick dismissals are common in such cases. However, in December, the Delaware judge overseeing the Dominion case denied Fox News’ request to dismiss the lawsuit. So far, there have been no signs of discussions or a settlement between the two parties, although that could change before the trial’s expected start in April. Fox News has vehemently denied the claims.
Fox News has argued that the defamation case infringes on their First Amendment rights. However, according to Roy Gutterman, an expert on communications law and free speech at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, these rights can be limited if falsity can bring harm to an individual or business. The depositions in the case are private, as are the documents collected by Dominion through the discovery process. Fox has requested that all collected materials remain private, asserting that Dominion has misrepresented the documents as evidence of actual malice.
Dominion has pointed to the rhetoric of hosts like Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs as evidence of Fox News’ false claims about voter fraud. Despite Dominion’s repeated emails notifying Fox News of the falsehoods, the network continued to feature guests, including Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell, who made baseless claims about voter fraud. Dobbs was also previously scheduled for questioning.
Fox News recently added veteran trial attorney Dan Webb to its legal team. Webb stated that Fox News was only reporting on the news and claims made by Trump’s allies. The network expressed confidence in prevailing in the lawsuit, emphasizing the importance of protecting freedom of the press. To win a defamation case, the plaintiff must demonstrate that false statements caused harm and that the speaker acted with “actual malice,” knowing or having reason to know the statements were false.
Dominion has also filed lawsuits against One America News and Newsmax, and Smartmatic USA has a defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Smartmatic alleges that Dobbs and other hosts falsely accused the company of election rigging. Fox News’ motion to dismiss the Smartmatic lawsuit was denied by a New York judge. Following the filing of the lawsuit, Fox News canceled Dobbs’ weekday business show, although the network claims the decision was unrelated to the legal action.
The deposition of Maria Bartiromo in the Dominion lawsuit adds to the ongoing legal battle between the cable news network and the voting systems company. The outcome of this case will have significant implications for the limits of free speech and the responsibilities of media companies in reporting accurate information.
Original Story at www.cnbc.com – 2022-09-02 07:00:00