Free Republic

A top-notch investigative producer from Chicago is suing NBC over alleged ethical lapses involving the news series "To Catch a Predator." Marsha Bartel, who was fired last December after a stellar 21-year career with NBC (including 10 years at WMAQ-Channel 5), claimed she was forced out after blowing the whistle on the show for violating journalistic ethical standards and many of NBC's own policies and guidelines. A copy of her lawsuit, filed in federal court May 24, turned up this week on thesmokinggun.com. Bartel, 49, who now works with news anchor Mark Suppelsa as a special project producer at Fox-owned...

An inch from junk Published: March 18 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 18 2005 02:00 General Motors is teetering on the brink of a downgrade to junk bond status. This week's profits warning could push it over the edge. GM could survive a ratings downgrade. But the loss of investment grade status could force it to change the way it organises and funds its business. The impact is unlikely to be confined to GM itself. If the company is downgraded, the shock waves could rock the entire corporate bond market. GM has $300bn (£156bn) debt, of which only one-third...