** FLORIDA COURT RULING SAYS MEDIA CAN LEGALLY LIE **
On February 14, a Florida Appeals Court ruled that there is absolutely nothing illegal in a major media organisation lying, concealing or distorting information. The
court reversed the US$425,000 jury verdict of 2000 that was in favour 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.
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 Monsanto's rBGH, a genetically engineered growth hormone given to 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 there is no hard,
fast and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news. The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued that the First Amendment
gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
The Court of Appeals, in its six?page written decision, held that the Federal Communications Commission's position against news distortion is only a "policy", not a
promulgated law, rule or regulation.
Fox aired a report after the ruling was handed down, saying that it was "totally vindicated" by the verdict.
(Source: Sierra Times, March 1, 2003,
http://www.sierratimes.com/O3/02/28/arpubmg022803.htm; also see the website
http://www.foxBGHsuit.com)
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