News » June 23, 2005

Journalists, not Activists

By Liane Casten

If any more proof was needed that we live in an upside-down world, the saga of TV news reporters Steve Wilson and Jane Akre serves as the definitive case study.

Husband and wife, Wilson and Akre are exhausted emotionally and financially, but also relieved. Their eight-year struggle—known to many from the 2004 documentary, The Corporation—with WTVT, a Tampa, Fla. Fox affiliate, has come to an end. After two major court cases, and more angst than any two reporters should have to endure, Wilson and Akre settled their case by FedExing nearly $200,000 to the network giant in May. They lost their appeal, having unsuccessfully fought a large corporation with very deep pockets.

It began when Fox fired the reporters in 1997, after they tried to air a story about the bovine growth hormone, rBGH. The report exposed its widespread use by U.S. dairy farmers, despite studies linking rGBH consumption to prostate and breast cancer. Monsanto, the producer of rBGH, threatened a lawsuit and demanded the elimination of significant, verifiable information from the story. Eventually, WTVT caved, despite Wilson and Akre’s efforts to rewrite the story more than 70 times to redress the complaints.

The couple sued Fox under Florida’s Whistle Blower’s Act. In a jury trial, Akre and Wilson were awarded $425,000. (The reporters knew not to spend it too soon.) In 2001, they were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for their outstanding reporting.

In an appeal, however, Fox argued that the FCC policy against distortion of news did not qualify as “law,” and that therefore Akre and Wilson were not protected under the Florida act, which only protects those reporting an employer’s violation of a “law, rule or regulation.” The court accepted this argument, ruling for WTVT.

More appalling than the reversal were the five major media outlets that filed briefs of amici curiae in support of Fox’s position. Their statement said, “The station argued that it simply wanted to ensure that a news story about a scientific controversy regarding a commercial product was presented with fairness and balance, and to ensure that it had a sound defense to any potential defamation claim.”

Compounding the indignity of the ruling, Fox demanded $3.1 million to pay its legal fees and trial costs. The punitive sum would have bankrupted the reporters. A judge decided that the sum was indeed draconian and reduced the damage to a little more than $175,000. But this did not include the years of personal and legal expenses—hundreds of thousands of dollars—incurred by Wilson and Akre during the two earlier trials.

Wilson says that his “scrappy” trial lawyers, John Chamblee and Tom Johnson, almost lost their practice, because they were so invested in the case. “Even after we were tapped out,” Akre says, “they chose to stay with us.”

Today, the couple lives near Jacksonville. Having been unable to find a local reporting job, Wilson commutes back on weekends from Detroit, where he is the top investigative reporter for WXYZ—a Scripps Howard-owned TV station. Akre is still looking for a full-time reporting job, but takes on assignments as they come. The two are now working on both a book and a screenplay about their experiences. “The idea of a film was always in the back of our minds,” Akre says. “The whole experience had so many great characters in it.”

But they haven’t left the fight for journalistic integrity. In January, they filed a petition with the FCC to deny WTVT a renewal of its broadcast license. They’ve asked for a hearing based on news distortion, and Akre met briefly with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein at the recent National Conference for Media Reform. “We’re questioning whether they have a solid enough character to own that license,” she says. “Whether we won or lost the court case, we knew this was something we were going to pursue.”

Akre still considers herself a journalist. “If I’m an advocate or activist, it’s for the public’s right to know,” she says. But she believes shining light in dark places is getting harder as those in power control the free flow of information. “That’s why it’s more important today to be a journalist than any other time. If those in power call you an activist, maybe you’re just a really great journalist.”

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• Reader Comments

  Fox News siding squashing truth and sising with a big corporation?Mercy me!What next?

  Strange,you can’t be a foreign citizen and run for president.Foreign nationals can’t be allowed to shape U.S.policies through legislation.However,if you’re Rupert Murdoch,you can set up a propaganda station and facilitate the shaping of U.S. policies that benefit you and your cronies.

  Unbelievable.If our current media and politics had been the basis for the film"Network",the plot would have been rejected as too far-fetched.

  Posted by wwoods on Jun 23, 2005 at 7:13 AM

  It is the courage of people like Steve Wilson and Jane Akre that keep hope alive for many of us.

  Posted by Emma Squires on Jun 23, 2005 at 10:50 AM

  The name “FOX NEWS” is a fraud, ipso facto.  FOX NEWS is a propaganda outlet for the republican party, period.  Every word uttered by a FOX reporter is either an outright lie, or is based on a false premise express or implied (just like the corporate pimps, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Drudge, etc., etc.).  And Tampa, the anus of the bible belt, is the perfect place for this kind of disgrace to occur.

  This case demonstrates that ALL GOVERNMENT (all 3 branches, state and federal), under conservative control is government of the corporation, by the corporation, and for the corporation.

  This case very starkly demonstrates why conservative, corporate, pimps, like the Bush family, Bill Frist, Orin Hatch, James Sennsenbrenner, Tom Delay, etc., are so eager to populate the federal bench with lifetime appointments of other pimps of their ilk, like Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William H. Pryor, Jr.

  Conservatism is a disease, like cancer, Bush is a malignant tumor, and they are consuming America.

  Posted by Lefty on Jun 23, 2005 at 11:05 AM

  No one who pays any attention will be surprised with this outcome. Corporate America owns the airwaves and newspapers. So it’s no wonder their cronies can quash a story they perceive as dangerous to their economic well-being. Wake up U.S. The non-thinking, ‘I’ll just accept whatever my government tells me’ crowd will eventually lead us down the very same path supplicant citizens have walked before.

  Posted by Oh Yeah on Jun 23, 2005 at 2:09 PM

  With the recent fight over filibusters in the Senate, the reports of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy, the glaring lack of discussion in the cowed US press of the “Downing Street memo”, the turning off of microphones in hearings called by democrats to discuss the patriot act’s abuses, and the denial of access to hearing rooms for hearings on the downing Street Memos, the threatening of judges who dare to uphold the law, I hope the entire country has finally seen the real goals and agenda of the Republican Party as it is currently constituted. It is nothing short of the total destruction of all opposition in every arena. The judiciary (and the packing of it) is important in providing a fig leaf of legality to future actions to suspend the bill of rights, the constitution, to destroy what’s left of the social programs, labor rights, workplace safety, environmental protections, civil rights laws, even the right to vote (Justice Scalia has already informed us, in 2000, that the constitution grants no such rights). The secrecy of this administration and the intimidation of those in the press who might actually report the news, along with the administration’s creating their own phony news reports for broadcast, shows a desire on their part to keep the public from finding out what they’re up to.
  And what they’re up to is; One party rule, a “Christian” nation, a “Corporate” nation. Does it sound familiar? I hope so. And I hope my senators, and congress-people, and all truly patriotic citizens, resist and reject these moves to legitimize the takeover of this country by right wing extremists.
  Any Democrat that voted in favor of confirming torture-memo writing lawyers to head the justice department, incompetent and demonstrably dishonest national security advisors, extremist, activist judges with corporate agendas, or in favor of social security privatization, the bankruptcy reform bill, or any bill that leaves the vote counting in the hands of private companies run by people pledged to elect republicans, must be exposed as the closet republicans that they are, forced out of the party, and out of office, so that the rest of us can get on with trying to save this country from it’s descent into theocratic corporate fascism.
  The damage done to this nation by 9/11 pales in comparison to the damage done in the last five years by this president and his policies. It has to be stopped, and stopped now. Democrats have to stop cooperating with it, abetting it, enabling it. Many seem to think that if they observe some code of etiquette in dealing with the other side, that they will do the same. The other side sees this as weakness, and so does the public. The other side has as it’s goal a permanent grip on power in this country, fair elections be damned, the constitution be damned, working people and retirees be damned, hell, even soldiers and veterans be damned.
  We all have to try even harder to prevent further erosion of our constitution and our democracy and drive these people (a generous term ) from power. Impeachment is more than warranted, and long, long overdue. This administration truly has committed high crimes.

  Posted by Kenneth D. Brown on Jun 23, 2005 at 6:46 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 16 posts.

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