Fox News is about to enter a true No Play Zone

Here he is.

The media libel trial of the century is about to begin in Wilmington, Delaware, in just a few days.

Jury selection in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit took place throughout the day Thursday, with 300 potential jurors summoned to court. Good progress has been made and the presiding judge noted that there were “more than enough jurors” to begin the trial as scheduled on Monday.

It is there, in Courtroom 7E, where the biggest figures in Murdoch Media, accompanied by a group of high-powered lawyers, will attempt to mount their defense after repeatedly failing to convince a judge to throw out this now historic case.

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Honestly, it was amazing to write those words. When I watched Fox News broadcast election lies after the 2020 election, I never expected the network would be held accountable in any meaningful way.

I’ve been covering Fox News for a while now. I have watched thousands of hours of right-wing channel programming. I’ve watched their hosts over the years undermine public health, make violent anti-immigrant statements, spread lies and propaganda, and push crazy conspiracy theories once reserved for the far right.

The network always seems to find a way to weather controversy, even the most dire storms it has ever faced. Sometimes he emerges stronger and braver than before.

But this time is different. This time, the normal tricks the network does in times of crisis won’t get it out of trouble. This time, in court, the network will need to present honest, fact-based arguments.

Fox News is about to enter a true No Spin Zone, where fraud is strictly prohibited. Which is irresponsible. And where top executives like Rupert Murdoch and Suzanne Scott and hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity can’t simply ignore requests for comment and instead attack “the media” on air.

In this context, when lies cannot simply be told and truth cannot be twisted beyond reality to fit a dishonest narrative, it will be interesting to see how the network develops. If the pretrial hearing is any indicator, it won’t be good. The case hasn’t even started yet and the presiding judge is already losing patience with Fox’s legal team and telling them off.

Perhaps things will change for Fox News when the judge delivers his ruling in a trial on Monday. But if the outcome is anything like what happened in court in recent weeks, Fox News is in for a brutal situation.