In the months following the 2020 US presidential election, rightwing TV news in America was a wild west, where conspiracy theories about voting machines, ballot-stuffed suitcases and dead Venezuela leaders were repeated to viewers around the clock.
There wasn't much consequence for selling the most outrageous ideas on prime time.
Fox News, One America News Network, and Newsmax are facing billions of dollars in lawsuits because of their baseless accusations.
The group wants to take Fox News ad revenue away.
In June, Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News, was given the go-ahead to file a lawsuit against a company that provided voting machines to 28 states.
The Murdochs are accused of allowing Fox News to amplify false claims that the voting company rigged the election.
Fox Corp tried to have the suit thrown out, but a judge in Delaware said there was enough evidence for the case to continue. Fox News and OAN are being sued.
According to Judge Eric Davis, the allegations support a reasonable inference that the Murdochs either knew or should have known that the election was not rigged.
It is not a guarantee that Fox will be found responsible. The judge made it clear that this isn't a joke, and media and legal experts think Fox could be in serious trouble.
According to a professor at the Brennan Center for Justice, Dominion has a very strong case against Fox News.
Fox and other rightwing news outlets lied about the voting machines being used to steal the election from Trump. Fox should not have given this aspect of the big lie a megaphone because all of the conspiracy theories about the machines were false.
Fox continued to spread misrepresentations about the voting machine company even after being asked to stop and correct the record.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Post were both under Murdoch's control and condemned President Trump's claims.
In a statement, a Fox News spokesman said: "Limiting the ability of the press to report freely on the American election process stands in stark contrast to the liberties on which this nation was founded."
There is a chance that a precedent could be found in the New York Times lawsuit against SarahPalin. The newspaper wrongly linked her rhetoric to a mass shooting. A jury found in February that a Times employee had not acted with malice against a public figure or with reckless disregard for the truth.
The Times victory shouldn't give Fox a lot of hope.
While an article was edited, the New York Times quickly corrected a mistake that had been made about the former Alaska governor.
Fox News lied about the voting machines. Judges in these defamation cases have not dismissed them.
The other companies are also seeking damages from Fox.
Smartmatic, an election software company which provided voting software to one county in the 2020 election but found itself subjected to claims that it was founded for the specific purpose of fixing elections, is suing Fox Corp.
Fox News is the most watched and influential cable news channel in the US.
In June, a Delaware judge refused Newsmax's motion to have the case against it thrown out, but did not weigh in on whether Newsmax was guilty.
The litigation costs are going to wipe out OAN. The president and CEO of Media Matters for America said to forget about any judgement.
After it was dropped by the DirecTV cable company, OAN is struggling to survive.
They have been cutting back the number of programs and laying off staff. They don't have enough resources to deal with a lengthy litigation.
If Newsmax isn't paid billions of dollars by Smartmatic and Dominion, it will survive a trial, according to Carusone.
Newsmax did not report on the allegations made by President Trump and his surrogates. Critics of the Trump claims were reported on by us.
If the suit were to succeed, it would endanger all press outlets.
A request for comment was not responded to.
If the Murdochs are subjected to discovery, they could be forced to hand over documents that could include communications data, which would be significant for Fox.
Text messages obtained by the January 6 commission show that there was communication between Fox News hosts and the White House about the insurrection.
The discovery material will show that there was a lot of communication between the Trump people and the outside world.
Fox is less vulnerable than NewsMax and OAN. Fox News is due to negotiate with cable providers at the end of the year, and cable companies could use the case to drive down prices.
It's not clear how Fox News, OAN and NewsMax will react to the case.
One thing that has already been settled is the news channels claim of election fraud.
The courts, the Department of justice, election officials and the US Department of Homeland Security have all dismissed the accusations.
The agency said that the election was the most secure in American history.
We can assure you that we have the highest level of confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too.
William Barr puts it in less sophisticated terms.
Barr told the January 6 committee that the claims of election interference were false.
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