Fl. Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie, Leave it to Fla !

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> r

> Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:56:10 -0400

> Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally

Lie,

Leave it to Fla!

 

> Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie

> Address:http://www.rense.com/general35/MEDIA.HTM

>

> By Mike Gaddy

> SierraTimes.com

> 3-1-3

> 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.

>

> © 2003 SierraTimes.com

>

http://www.sierratimes.com/03/02/28/arpubmg022803.htm

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