A historic $787.5 million settlement April 18 brought an abrupt end to Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp. The much-anticipated defamation trial never began, but a ruling last month may have been a lost opportunity to examine a crucial issue in media law: whether news outlets are responsible for reporting false statements by prominent people.

In the weeks leading up to trial, legal filings in the litigation exposed details of the drama and division permeating the outlet in the wake of the 2020 election, as then-President Donald Trump’s lawyers repeatedly elevated fictional claims of election fraud perpetrated by Dominion on Fox shows. The case centered around defamatory statements made by controversial, albeit prominent, on-air guests, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and teed up a perfect fact pattern where the court could have adopted the neutral reportage privilege, a lesser-known defense to defamation claims.

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