Judge sanctions Fox News ahead of Dominion defamation trial

A judge has sanctioned Fox News after claims it withheld evidence in a $1.6b (£1.3b) lawsuit.

Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News for defamation, alleging the network damaged its reputation by airing election conspiracy theories.

Dominion said Fox News did not turn over certain recordings during the discovery phase.

A Fox News spokeswoman said lawyers produced the materials as soon as they learned of them.

The recordings were taken by a producer, Abby Grossberg, who has sued Fox News in a separate lawsuit. They capture host Maria Bartiromo speaking to two lawyers who represented Mr Trump during his attempts to overturn the 2020 election: Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, NBC News reported.

The recordings were made available only after discovery, the period before trial when both sides exchange information about the evidence that will be used. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis grew frustrated with the network after Dominion's lawyers played the recordings in court, according to NBC News.

Fox News was defiant. "As counsel explained to the court, Fox produced the supplemental information from Ms. Grossberg when we first learned it," spokeswoman Irena Briganti told the BBC in an email.

In light of the delayed evidence, Judge Davis said he would consider appointing a special master to investigate Fox's legal team. Dominion could have another opportunity to depose Ms Bartiromo, too, the AP reported.

Judge Davis also expressed frustration at the network's lawyers on Tuesday for not revealing the full extent of Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch's role at Fox News.

Attorneys for Fox News had said Mr Murdoch plays no official role in Fox News, and does not make day-to-day decisions. But Dominion's lawyers said Fox News only disclosed to them on Sunday that Mr Murdoch is also an executive chair of the network.

Ms Briganti said there was no deception: "Rupert Murdoch has been listed as executive chairman of Fox News in our SEC filings for several years and this filing was referenced by Dominion's own attorney during his deposition."

Yet Judge Davis called the delayed disclosure "bizarre". During the hearing on Tuesday he chided Fox's legal team.

"My problem is that it has been represented to me more than once that he is not an officer," the judge said.

Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp, which goes to trial next week, is set to be the media lawsuit of the decade.

The company claims that the network sullied its reputation by airing repeated falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump, including claims that Dominion's voting machines were rigged.

Shortly after losing the election, Mr Trump and his allies insisted that the election had been stolen but provided no evidence. They lost multiple lawsuits aimed at overturning the results.

Fox News, a conservative network whose personalities publicly backed Mr Trump during the election, gave significant airtime to election conspiracy theories.

During a deposition for this case, Mr Murdoch said he believed the 2020 election was "fair" and "not stolen."

To win their case, Dominion must prove that Fox News' personalities and leadership knew what they were saying was not true. They must meet the high bar of showing Fox News published the information with "actual malice," meaning it knew the information was false, and exercised a reckless disregard for the truth.