This particular case seems to be quite the exception.
What does proof have to do with anything? It's Delaware. It's an automatic loss for anything the hive mind doesn't like.
The same thing would happen in any trial in Washington DC, Portland, San Fransisco, Boston, etc.
It's crazytown and I wouldn't be surprised if the jury would award a trillion dollars in damages.
OK, I will re-phrase.
To win a defamation lawsuit one has to CONVINCE A JURY that a media outlet acted with “actual malice.”
And you’re right, that’s different from PROVING anything.
However...
Discovery was not kind to Fox on this one. Their texts and emails were pretty convincing, and their testimony in depositions (from Hannity, to Bartiromo, to Murdoch himself) indicate that none of them believed what Powell and Giuliani were saying.
Murdoch himself is on record (in deposition testimony) saying that they broadcast what they did to boost ratings.