Fox vs Dominion: Key players in the $1.6bn lawsuit

Testimony in the highly anticipated defamation trial pitting Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News is set to start – and jurors may be seeing a few familiar faces.

Dominion, a voting technology company, is suing Fox for $1.6bn (£1.29bn) in damages, claiming that the TV network knowingly spread falsehoods about the firm’s role in the 2020 US election that ousted Donald Trump from the White House.

Over the course of the trial, jurors are likely to hear from billionaire Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and immensely popular – and controversial – TV host Tucker Carlson, among an array of other executives and well-known on-air personalities.

Jurors will be asked to determine whether Fox showed “actual malice” by knowingly and willingly reporting things that were untrue and potentially damaging for the voting machine maker.

Fox denies the claims. In a statement sent to the BBC, the company said the lawsuit “is a political crusade in search of financial windfall” and said Dominion “has pushed irrelevant and misleading information to generate headlines”.

Here’s what we know about some of the key players in the case and how they fit in.

As the trial begins, all eyes will be on Fox Corporation’s 91-year-old co-chairman and his son Lachlan, who is the co-chairman and CEO.

In the lawsuit, Dominion claims that the two Murdochs held ultimate editorial responsibility during the elections, and allowed falsehoods about Dominion to be spread despite knowing they were untrue.

Court documents filed by Dominion after a deposition of the elder Mr Murdoch revealed that he did not believe many of the theories being “endorsed” by some Fox commentators.

In retrospect, he said, he would have liked the company to be “stronger in denouncing it”.

He also said that he “could have” prevented conspiracy-prone guests from appearing on-air, but did not.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, the now 53-year-old TV host broadcast more than 20 episodes of his show that Dominion’s lawsuit claims were defamatory.

Off-camera, however, Mr Carlson repeatedly dismissed the claims, which he called “absurd” and “insane”, according to communications revealed in court documents.

Additionally, while he was publicly a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election, court documents show that he said he hated the former President “passionately” and that he “can’t wait” to ignore him.

Dominion’s lawyers are likely to focus on these inconsistencies in their bid to prove the “actual malice” needed for a successful defamation case.

Another TV star expected on the stand is Sean Hannity, the host of the popular and his self-titled “Hannity” show on Fox.

In court documents, Dominion’s lawyers have specifically singled out an episode of the show that aired on 30 November, 2020 in which Mr Hannity had Sidney Powell, a former Trump lawyer, as guest.

During the episode, Ms Powell repeated baseless conspiracy theories about Dominion’s role in the election.

Mr Hannity later said in a deposition that he did not believe Ms Powell’s claims “for one second”, despite having brought her on his show.

Ms Powell, for his part, features heavily in the lawsuit and is among one of three people who repeatedly repeated conspiracy theories on Fox shows, including Mr Hannity’s, Mr Carlson’s and others.

Internal communications show that Fox News employees repeatedly told each other they did not believe many of the allegations.

Mr Ryan, 53, served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. In March 2019, he joined the board of the Fox Corporation.

According to court documents filed by Dominion, Mr Ryan sent a message to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch calling for “solid pushback” against outlandish claims in the wake of the 2020 election.

“I think we are entering a truly bizarre phase of this where he has actually convinced himself of this farce and will do more bizarre things to delegitimize the election,” he said, adding that he saw the election as an “inflection point” for the network.

Among the top Fox executives expected to testify is Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.

Dominion’s court filings single her out as ultimately being “responsible for the content of the shows” on the network, with the “authority to direct shows to not host certain guests or broadcast certain content”.

On 9 November 2020 – just days after the election – Ms Scott e-mailed Rupert Murdoch to stress upon him the importance of keeping an audience “who loves and trusts” the network, particularly after Fox’s decision to call the state of Arizona in Joe Biden’s favour.

That call, she said, had been “damaging”, but could be addressed by an effort to “highlight our stars and plant flags letting the viewers know we hear them, and respect them”.

Additionally, Dominion’s court filings show that the firm alerted Ms Scott, along with several other top Fox executives, that they were airing “verifiably wrong information”.

Experts have noted that a significant part of Dominion’s case will be to show that Fox was repeatedly warned about the falsehoods being shared on-air.