Fox News is a very controversial program. It has been for quite some time. This makes sense for it, as all heavily politically leaning news programs tend to face at least some backlash for exaggerated statements. But even so, recently Fox News has faced a lot more criticism and scandal than even your average highly opinionated news site. In fact, the channel faced a defamation lawsuit from the company Dominion Voting Systems. There is a lot of mixed information and very strong opinions surrounding this situation, but this is an event where it is important to get the facts clear. 

First of all, it is essential to understand who exactly is suing Fox in this situation, and why. Domination Voting Systems is a company that produces electronics, primarily voting machines for US elections, as the name suggests. The reason this company is suing Fox is because the news channel has allegedly spread false information about politics, including controversies about the system being rigged, which of course heavily affected a company whose business is voting machines. The definition of defamation, as quoted in the Oxford Dictionary, is ¨the action of damaging the good reputation of someone.¨ Therefore, this suit summarized is a huge, important company, which produces and sells voting machines for our elections, suing Fox because their allegedly false statements about elections have ruined their reputation and elements of their business. 

The suit has already been settled. It was settled in late April, and Fox is paying Dominion a $787.5 million dollar settlement. Additionally, Tucker Carlson, a formally crucial figure and reporter at Fox, has been fired. It was at first assumed by the public that he left on his own, but it´s been made very clear by Fox executives that his leaving was not by choice. Carlson was confirmed to have been fired, likely to patch the already tarnished reputation Fox News carries with them from the previously mentioned suit.

To conclude, the suit against Fox News happened because the information and claims they’ve reported on in the past may have affected the business of Dominion Voting Systems. Because this company is a massive distributor of voting machines,  information that may be false about how voting works can tank their sales. The suit resulted in a settlement over 700 million dollars, and the firing of formerly prominent Fox Reporter Tucker Carlson.