The Washington Post reports:
Over a tumultuous decade, Rupert Murdoch’s sprawling media empire wrote more than a few big checks to stave off nasty court battles and negative headlines. Which has left many observers puzzled over why Murdoch hasn’t yet settled his highest-stakes legal battle to date: a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit over bogus claims that an election-technology company rigged the 2020 vote.
Legal experts say it’s still possible the two sides could work out a deal that could cut Fox’s potential losses — and avoid weeks of embarrassing testimony about Fox and its famed personalities. Some damaging details have already spilled out in court, indicating that Fox executives knew that the allegations of election fraud floated on its airwaves were false but feared that they would lose conservative viewers if they contradicted them.
Read the full article.
The piece notes that Fox has paid out hundreds of millions in recent years to settle claims of sexual harassment, employment discrimination, email hacking, and other defamation lawsuits.
Why won’t Fox News settle the Dominion libel suit when Rupert Murdoch has paid out nearly $750 million in past? Network officials worried they’re starting to look like an easy mark and don’t want to apologize on air, @sarahellison and @jeremymbarr report https://t.co/hXaEqC7K93
— Rachel Weiner (@rachelweinerwp) March 29, 2023