Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of the Fox Corporation, conceded on Tuesday that a Delaware judge’s pretrial rulings against the company “severely limited our defense at trial” and contributed to his decision to settle the landmark defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems.Mr. Murdoch, on a call with investors and analysts, called the $787.5 million settlement — believed to be the largest in the history of defamation law — “a decision clearly in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.”In a remark that echoed the trademark defiance of his father, Rupert Murdoch, he also defended the conduct of Fox News personnel, saying the settlement “in no way alters Fox’s commitment to the highest journalistic standards across our networks, or our passion for unabashedly reporting the news of the day.”His remarks came after Fox revealed a real-world consequence of the landmark settlement: The company swung to …
