CNN
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That is it.
The media defamation trial of the century is on the precipice of kicking off in Wilmington, Delaware, in simply days.
Jury choice in Dominion Voting Programs’ monster $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit came about all of Thursday, with 300 potential jurors being summoned to court docket. Good progress was made and the presiding decide famous that there have been “greater than sufficient jurors” to begin the trial as scheduled on Monday.
It’s there, in Courtroom 7E, the place the largest figures in Murdoch Media, accompanied by a throng of high-powered legal professionals, will try and mount their protection after repeatedly failing to persuade a decide to toss the now-historic case.
A model of this text first appeared within the “Dependable Sources” publication. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.
It’s, frankly, extraordinary to put in writing these phrases. After I watched Fox Information broadcast election lies within the aftermath of the 2020 election, by no means did I anticipate the community to be held accountable in a significant method.
I’ve lined Fox Information for some time now. I’ve watched 1000’s and 1000’s of hours of the right-wing channel’s programming. I’ve seen its hosts over time undermine public well being, make gross anti-immigrant remarks, peddle lies and propaganda and push deranged conspiracy theories that have been as soon as reserved for the right-wing’s furthest fringes.
The community has all the time appeared to discover a solution to sail by way of the controversy, even essentially the most hellish storms it has confronted. Typically it has emerged even stronger and extra emboldened than earlier than.
However this time is completely different. This time, the traditional methods the community turns to throughout occasions of disaster won’t free it from bother. This time, in a court docket of legislation, the community might want to put ahead an sincere, fact-driven argument.
Fox Information is about to enter the true No Spin Zone, the place deception is strictly prohibited. The place it isn’t in cost. And the place its prime executives like Rupert Murdoch and Suzanne Scott and hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity can’t merely ignore a request for remark and resort to, as a substitute, attacking “the media” on-air.
On this setting, the place lies can’t be casually advised and reality can’t be distorted past actuality to suit a dishonest narrative, it is going to be fascinating to see how the community fares. If the pre-trial hearings are any indicator, it received’t be fairly. The case hasn’t even began and the presiding decide has already misplaced his persistence with Fox’s authorized crew and put them on discover.
Maybe the winds will shift for Fox Information when the decide gavels within the trial on Monday. But when they play out like the previous few weeks of court docket have, Fox Information is in for a brutal journey.
