A judge said Fox News had a “credibility problem” just days before a $1.6 billion defamation trial after the company disclosed for the first time in nearly two years of litigation that Rupert Murdoch was an officer of the company.
Superior Court Judge Eric Davis called the delayed disclosure “bizarre” and chided Fox attorneys for having previously made representations that Murdoch wasn’t an officer of Fox News, only to reverse on the eve of a trial set to begin Monday over the broadcaster’s coverage of false claims the 2020 Presidential election was rigged.
“I’m not very happy right now,” Judge Davis said during a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware. “You (Fox News) have a credibility problem.”
Dominion Voting Systems alleges Fox damaged its business by knowingly and repeatedly airing false claims that Dominion voting machines were used to flip the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, who won.
An attorney for Dominion, Justin Nelson, said his client only learned of Murdoch’s role on Sunday and got its first document with Murdoch’s title of Fox News executive chairman on Tuesday morning. Murdoch, chairman of Fox News parent company Fox Corp, is expected to testify in court.
Dominion says that depositions by Murdoch and others, as well as troves of internal Fox communications, prove top network personnel knew the election-rigging claims were false but aired them anyway to appease Fox’s conservative viewers
Fox News had disclaimed that Murdoch was a company officer, which shaped how Dominion litigated the case, according to Dominion attorney Nelson. As a Fox News officer, Murdoch would likely have been subject to more probing discovery by Dominion.
“It is very troubling but this is where we are,” said Nelson.
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