Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has weighed in on Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News, stating that it must not be settled out of court. Williamson believes that this case has ramifications for American democracy that require a public showcase.
Williamson, a best-selling author, is critical of the Biden administration, claiming that it is not doing enough to revive the economy and political system to its pre-Reagan Revolution status.
Delaware Judge Eric M Davis postponed the trial for Dominion’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News until April 18, leading to rumors of settlement talks between the parties. Fox News allegedly defamed Dominion when it hosted Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who made false allegations about the company to millions of viewers following the 2020 presidential election.
Powell and Giuliani pushed a false theory that Dominion had convoluted ties to the dead Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and flipped votes from Donald Trump to President Joe Biden. Dominion alleges that Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs either endorsed the claims or did not push back against them when Powell and Giuliani appeared on their shows.
Fox News argues that Dominion is asking for too much money in damages, and that the plaintiff company has lowered its compensation claim by half a billion dollars.
Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host who won a $20 million settlement from the network in a sexual harassment lawsuit, urged Dominion Voting Systems not to settle the defamation lawsuit. Carlson tweeted that Dominion should not settle because it is about to prove something big.
Fox News was created in 1996 by Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch to appeal to a conservative audience. Murdoch hired Roger Ailes, a former Republican media consultant and CNBC executive, as its founding CEO. Fox News became the dominant US cable news subscription network, reaching 91% of American television subscribers by September 2018.
However, Fox News has long been criticized for providing biased reporting in favor of the Republican Party, conservative causes, and politicians, while portraying the Democratic Party in a negative light. Fox News has been considered a weapon of mass distraction that prevents objective facts from reaching the collective consciousness of the public.
According to Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, Fox News has fused with Donald Trump’s administration to an unprecedented degree and maintains its pervasive influence over the GOP after his departure. Gertz’s review of Fox’s programming and the actions of its personalities from Trump’s 2016 election to the present reveals more than 400 examples of the network’s incestuous relationship with the party.
Williamson’s statement on the Dominion lawsuit indicates that the case is gaining attention from those who are concerned about the impact of media outlets on democracy.
As a presidential candidate, Williamson has made several statements that indicate she is focused on restoring balance and fairness to the political system, which has been influenced by corporate-owned media reports that excite voters on the fringes while undermining candidates who represent genuine alternatives.
“I would bet that the Associated Press also said that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in,” said Williamson, responding to the characterization of her as a “long shot” by the news reporting cooperative association owned by U.S. newspapers and broadcasters.
“The system that is now saying that I’m unserious, I’m not credible, or I’m a long shot is the very system that protects and maintains this idea that only those whose careers have been entrenched within the system that drove us into a ditch should possibly be considered qualified to lead us out of that ditch,” Williamson said.
The Dominion lawsuit is just one example of how those who are concerned about the future of democracy are paying attention to the actions of media outlets and their impact on the public’s perception of reality.
As for Dominion Voting Systems, the company has become a central figure in the controversy surrounding the 2020 US presidential election. In the wake of the election, former President Donald Trump and his allies promoted false claims that the election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud, a theory that has been debunked by numerous courts, state officials, and independent election observers.
Dominion, which provides voting machines and software to many US states and counties, was among the targets of these false claims. Proponents of the stolen election theory alleged that Dominion machines had been hacked or manipulated to switch votes from Trump to his opponent, Joe Biden.
These claims have been thoroughly investigated and debunked by multiple independent audits, as well as by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which described the 2020 election as “the most secure in American history.” Nevertheless, the false claims continued to spread through social media and conservative news outlets, including Fox News.
Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News is just one of several legal challenges the company has filed in response to these false claims. It has also sued prominent Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as media outlets like Newsmax and One America News Network (OAN).
In all of these lawsuits, Dominion has accused the defendants of making false and defamatory statements about the company, harming its reputation and causing financial damage. The company is seeking billions of dollars in damages, as well as retractions and apologies from the defendants.
For Fox News, the lawsuit represents a significant threat to its bottom line and its reputation as a trusted news source. The network has already faced criticism for promoting false and misleading claims about the election, and a successful lawsuit from Dominion could further damage its credibility with viewers and advertisers.
Some observers have suggested that settling the lawsuit out of court could be the best outcome for both Dominion and Fox News. A settlement would allow Dominion to recoup some of its losses without having to go through a lengthy and costly trial, while Fox News could avoid the potentially damaging publicity of a trial and the possibility of a large damages award.
However, Marianne Williamson and others have argued that settling the case would be a disservice to the public, as it would prevent the full truth from coming to light. If the case goes to trial, Williamson believes, it will provide an opportunity for the American people to see whether Fox News knowingly spread false information about the election, and to hold the network accountable if it did.
Jury selection in the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News is set to begin on Tuesday, April 19, and the trial is expected to last for several weeks.