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This is a real
bombshell of a story - not only the report on Monsanto and our milk supply - but
how truthful investigative journalism is under attack by our corporate
owned media.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Norma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;> Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 1:41 PM Subject: CLG fw-REPORTERS SUE FOX TV-INSIDE STORY > The following story is just another example of BushCo infringing on free > speech rights. Folks, the media sold WeThePeople out. All we hear from the > media are lies and half-truths to the point that it's hard to discern what > is legitimate. Keep a fine tuned ear to the ground and hope like hell the > few honest media persons will come to realize that this isn't the America we > came to love and honor. Connect the dots. It all becomes crystal clear! > > REPORTERS SUE FOX TV-INSIDE STORY > > by > Steve Wilson and Jane Akre > > I used to think there was nothing worse than seeing a good story killed > because the special interest of a news organization (or one its friends or > advertisers) was more important than the public interest. I just found out > the hard way that I was wrong. There is something much, much worse -- and > it's something that should concern all of us because as corporate owners > control more and more newsrooms, it will happen again. > > The investigative report produced by me and my reporting colleague Jane Akre > was not killed by Fox Television. Instead, as we explain in a lawsuit we > filed this past week, Fox managers and their lawyers ordered us to distort, > twist, and slant a story and threatened us with immediate dismissal if we > would not broadcast material we knew to be false and misleading. > > Some of you may remember I posted a note here asking for objective advice > about what to do months ago when we were doing the same kind of > soul-searching I know some of you have been through. (I couldn't identify > the reporters or the news organization back then.) Most of you said, "Resist > those kinds of instructions!" > > As we detail in our lawsuit, when we did just that. Fox threatened to fire > us within 48 hours and we were told they'd just get another reporter to do > it after we were gone. When we said we'd file a formal complaint with the > FCC if that happened, we were not fired but were each offered very large > cash settlements to go away and keep quiet about the story and how it was > handled_all of these details and written documentation including scripts, > contracts, settlement offers, EVERYTHING in our legal complaint you can read > for yourself at www.foxBGHsuit.com. > > Fox managers refused to kill the story because word might leak out they > bowed to pressure applied by Monsanto and the dairy and grocery industry, we > explain in our suit. Monsanto directed its efforts to kill the story to > former Republican operative and now-Fox News chief Roger Ailes. Then, over > the course of nine months last year, we were ordered to write and re- write > the scripts again and again-more than 73 times in all. > > You should know there was never any claim that we or anyone working with us > ever acted outside the highest ethical standards of good investigative > reporting. There are no issues about trespass or hidden cameras or > pretending to be somebody else to get inside information. > > More importantly, at no time ever was even a single error of fact found in > our reporting. We provided literally binders chock full of solid > documentation to support virtually every sentence and to show how some of > what we were ordered to report was demonstrably wrong. Little of that > mattered as we were repeatedly told "it's not whether the facts are true, it > was how they are presented"_and, as we also quoted the Fox General Manager > in our lawsuit, "We paid $3 billion for these television stations, we'll > decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is." > > After we stood up to being fired, turned down the easy money, and all those > re-writes didn't wear us down, we were told we were being suspended without > pay but ordered to keep re-writing scripts even though we found ourselves > locked out of our offices and the computers that held much of our > information. We did write those final two scripts-the honest version we > wanted to report, and the version Fox insisted on telling. Both are attached > to our suit and available on the web along with our objections detailed > point-by-point in the Fox-mandated script. > > Finally, after a year struggling nearly a year to tell the story fairly and > honestly, we were advised we were being dismissed without cause pursuant to > a window option in our contract. Fox's own lawyer contradicts that phony > claim in a letter (you can also review on the web) where she writes that > although Fox had the right to dismiss us without cause, "_there were > definite reasons for the decision that was made." She goes to explain we > were really dismissed due to our "pattern of responding to direction with > rancor, argument and personal attacks on the lawyers and editors". Our legal > claim is that the "rancor and argument" which ensued when we were ordered to > lie on television -- along with our statement to Fox management that we > would complain to the FCC if the station resorted to illegal conduct in > broadcasting news known to be false and misleading -- those were the reasons > we were ultimately fired. Fortunately, Florida has a whistle-blower law that > makes that illegal. > > In any event, all of us in the news business should consider that this kind > of conduct by business people masquerading as journalists could well be the > next step down the road to journalism nobody can trust or rely upon. These > are issues that we ought to be discussing in our conferences and seminars. > How will you handle a similar situation if it ever comes up? What, if > anything, can be done to stop this kind of thing? And what kind of support > could you expect if you put your career on the line over something like > this? > > Jane and I would be happy to share anything we have with any of you who want > to pursue the original story we were trying to tell (our scripts are on the > web) or just want to share your opinions and suggestions about any of this. > We invite you to visit the web site, post a message there if you like, or > contact us directly by e-mail. > > Steve Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jane Akre [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://www.videonetwork.org/stuff/foxtv.html > |
