Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie.

sierratimes ^ | By Mike Gaddy

[Megalomaniac]

Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie. By Mike Gaddy Published 02. 28. 03 at 19:31 Sierra Time

On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast. On August 18, 2000, a six-person jury was unanimous in its conclusion that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station's pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was "a false, distorted, or slanted" story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows. The court did not dispute the heart of Akre's claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers.

Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.

In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a "policy," not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation.

Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was "totally vindicated" by the verdict.

[Robert A Cook PE]

And this is news? /sarcasm off

ABCNNBCBS have been doing this since the sixties.

[MEG33]

So what's new about the press distorting the news?

[philetus]

Nothing, but now they have official government support

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Ok now we have officially sanctioned by the court liars ! NEXT Being a theif is ok as long as you brush your teeth in the morning!

[swheats]

As if they need a license and encouragement.

[freddy]

And you ALL thought FOX was "Fair and Balanced"...???

They NEVER stop PUSHING the war...
They beat it to death...!!!
The talking heads... for the most part have never been right in their predictions...
Sean Hannity is a mental case(albeit..a very rich mental case)
Laurie Dhue is beautiful.. :-)) Huh..???

[Always Right]

They NEVER stop PUSHING the war...
They beat it to death...!!!

I take it you like Saddam and think he is a sane person and poises no danger sitting on massive wealth of oil providing him with tons of power to obtain almost anything he wants. Long live Saddam!!!!!!

[swheats]

Sean Hannity is a mental case(albeit..a very rich mental case)

Yes, but he's our mental case. Glad he's on the right.

[freddy]

I said:
They NEVER stop PUSHING the war... They beat it to death...!!!

You said:
I take it you like Saddam and think he is a sane person and poises no danger sitting on massive wealth of oil
providing him with tons of power to obtain almost anything he wants. Long live Saddam!!!!!!

How in hell did you get the above out of what I posted...???

Makes me wonder if half you FR posters have both oars in the water...Huh??

[bluefish]

...wonder if half you FR posters have both oars in the water...

Are YOU not a FR poster? Doesn't sound like it from your post, addressing FR Posters as a separate body from yourself. So what are you, a DUmmie plant? And whats with the "Huhh?" thing? Is that your trademark? Hint, it makes you look like the fool you most likely are.

[Marine Inspector]

And you ALL thought FOX was "Fair and Balanced"...???

None of the media giants are fair and balanced, so who cares.

[tet68]

All the news that fits, we print.

[RWG]

We lie...the appeals court will decide.

[madfly]

http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q2/fox.html

Former Fox-TV reporters Jane Akre and Steve Wilson have received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's largest award for environmental activists.

PR Watch first reported on Akre and Wilson in our second quarter 1998 issue ("Monsanto and Fox: Partners in Censorship"), which details how they were fired in December 1997 by Tampa station WTVT after the Monsanto company objected to their investigative report on the company's controversial genetically modified product, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Our fourth quarter 2000 issue carried a story by Akre on their difficulties finding work since their firing ("The Cost of Taking a Stand").

Akre and Wilson say their former station did not merely suppress their report but repeatedly ordered them to "broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story." In August 2000, a Florida jury awarded Akre $425,000 in damages under the state's whistleblower law, concluding that she had been fired "because she threatened to disclose to the Federal Communications Commission under oath, in writing, the broadcast of a false, distorted, or slanted news report which she reasonably believed would violate the prohibition against intentional falsification or distortion of the news on television." The station has appealed the jury verdict, a process which is expected to take years before Akre can hope to actually receive payment. In the meantime, the husband-and-wife team remains unemployed.

Akre says the Goldman award, which includes a prize of $125,000, is welcome not only as recognition for their efforts on behalf of the environment, but also because it will enable them to continue their legal battle with Fox and Monsanto, and also "to continue to produce documentaries and other projects to bring attention to genetically engineered foods, the state of the American media, and other important issues that the mainstream press is just not covering any more."

The Goldman Environmental Prize has sometimes been termed a "Nobel Prize for grassroots work" that calls attention to a significant environmental issue. Founded and funded in 1990 by San Francisco philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman, the prize annually distributes cash bequests to six of the planet's most deserving "environmental heroes." Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a network of over 20 environmental organizations and individuals representing nearly 50 nations. Akre and Wilson are the first journalists to ever win the award. Other recipients who received the award on April 21 of this year included a Rwandan who crusaded to save his country's last 355 mountain gorillas, a Greek biologist who brought feuding nations together to save a fragile ecosystem, and an indigenous woman in Indonesia who fought the destructive mining activities of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

"We are both incredibly humbled by this honor," Akre and Wilson said in receiving their award, "especially after spending the last few days meeting the other winners selected from each of the other five inhabited continents on Earth."

Akre and Wilson have publicized their case through their own website (www.foxbghsuit.com), but their story has been largely ignored by the mainstream news media. News of their Goldman award has also received minimal coverage, and the few stories that have appeared usually omit any mention of either Monsanto or the Fox network. News of their award has been ignored altogether by the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Perhaps the most remarkable headline regarding their case appeared in an Associated Press story on April 23, which stated, "TV Press Win Environmental Award." To a casual reader, it might appear that the Goldman award had gone to the news media itself, notwithstanding the fact that since their firing, Akre and Wilson are no longer part of the "TV press," and their story has never been broadcast.

[gitmo]

Anyone know what story Fox deliberately lied about?

[Sirloin]

The hypocrisy on both sides of the fence (FR vs DU, Fox vs CNN, etc) is astounding. Its ok to lie, steal, cover-up, as long it's your team that benefits.

Best to get your news from multiple sources and try to discern the truth.

[bobsatwork]

I'm not familiar with this story. OK "..jurors decided (it)was "a false, distorted, or slanted" story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows". In what way? Growth hormone is used in cows. Also can anyone name any news story than can not be described as "false, distorted OR SLANTED?" Why is this case in any way special?

[madfly]

Issue #1: The Milk…
Is it still "nature’s most perfect food" when dairymen are injecting their cows with the artificial hormone BGH many scientists link to cancer? How many Americans even know their milk has changed as a result of secret injections down on the farm? Why is this approved in the U.S. but banned in in all of Europe and unapproved through Canada and several other countries? And if there is nothing wrong with BGH, why has its maker Monsanto fought so hard to avoid honest labels which would identify milk from hormone-treated cows and allow consumers to choose for themselves?

Google Search "Bovine Growth Hormone" 70,000 results

[visualops]

Ahh, the truth will out.
Aren't the Goldman's part of the money behind the United for Justice, or Win Without War, one of those? Hmm.