Fox News In The News!

By - M R Dua

Well known American news channel, Fox News, which created waves during the 2020 US presidential election, and was of prodigious aid to the former President Donald J. Trump in the fiercely-contested race to the White House, has been taken to court to answer charges of defamation. In addition, the suit also blames Fox News for causing and supporting the seizure of the Capitol Hill, the headquarters of the US government, by a mob of Trump after his defeat.

The suit has been filed by a rather little known, hardly heard of the tech outfit, Smartmatic, in the New York State Supreme Court.

Smartmatic is a voting machine manufacturing company that produces voting technology that has been used abroad, including in America. Its voting machines used in the presidential race were said to be responsible for Trump’s loss.

Smartmatic has claimed $ 2.7 billion as damages. In addition to the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News, three of the channel’s star anchors have also been named as a party to the suit. These anchors are Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro. 

The suit has blamed the news channel and its anchors’ team for casting doubts on the Biden victory in the US Presidential election which further instigated the crowd to head to the Capitol to protest and then riot against Joe Biden Jr.'s victory in the US Presidential poll.

Joe R. Biden Jr. had been finally declared the winner after Donald Trump’s Vice-President Mike Pence-presided constitutionally - sanctioned result-certification committee had ratified the poll outcome. The suit also blames Trump’s lawyers’ team that included Rudy Giuliani and Ms. Sidney Powell who had made out a case that Biden had won through fraudulent and bogus technological conspiratorial means for which the Smartmatic outfit was the creator. 

Smartmatic’s case also says that TV coverage by some networks created doubts among Trump followers about Biden’s win alleging that it was rigged and a fraud. The unprecedented mob attack on the Capitol building in Washington DC led to the Death of 5 persons including 1 police officer.