Ordinarily, it doesn’t matter whether the published libel came from someone employed by the media outlet or someone else. In theory, therefore, Fox could be held liable even for statements made on the air by guests such as Rudy Giuliani, who repeatedly made false and defamatory statements about Dominion on Fox shows. And to be sure, a highly formalistic application of existing libel law would probably lead to a win for Dominion. On one highly formal reading of existing law, Fox could be held liable simply for choosing to air statements by Trump’s lawyers and supporters that Fox knew were false. In practice, it can be hard to disentangle opinion statements from fact statements.

Source: Fox News March 18, 2023 13:54 UTC