Anybody in the newspaper, radio or TV news business is fast becoming a dinosaur.
		
		
	 
It should have happened a few years back. That it didn't kind of points to the American public getting just what they deserve.
11. The Media Can Legally Lie – Top 25 of 2005
April 29, 2010 							 CMW REPORT, Spring 2003
Title: “Court Ruled That Media Can Legally Lie”
Author: Liane Casten
 ORGANIC CONSUMER ASSOCIATION, March 7, 2004
Title: “Florida Appeals Court Orders Akre-Wilson Must Pay Trial Costs  for $24.3 Billion Fox Television; Couple Warns Journalists of Danger to  Free Speech, Whistle Blower Protection”
Author: Al Krebs
 Faculty Evaluator: Liz Burch, Ph.D.
Student Researcher: Sara Brunner
 In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with  an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or  falsifying the news in the United States.
 Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson,  were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in  Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine  growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto  Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that  there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket  chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the  hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.
 According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited  about the series. But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys  wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives  that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the  story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then  tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted  story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox’s actions to the  FCC, they were both fired.(Project Censored #12 1997)
 Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station and on August 18, 2000, a  Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre was wrongfully fired by Fox  Television when she refused to broadcast (in the jury’s words) “a false,  distorted or slanted story” about the widespread use of BGH in dairy  cows. They further maintained that she deserved protection under  Florida’s whistle blower law. Akre was awarded a $425,000 settlement.  Inexplicably, however, the court decided that Steve Wilson, her partner  in the case, was ruled not wronged by the same actions taken by FOX.
(in part)
Fox News Sued for the Right to Lie
Rumors have circulated since at least 2009 claiming that the Fox News  cable television channel fought successfully in court for the right to  lie, misinform, or deceive viewers. The claim that Fox News legally won  the “right to lie” has been repeated across the internet despite its  being factually inaccurate on more than one level.
 First, the case from which the rumor stemmed resulted in a Florida appeals court 
ruling in February 2003,  not 2004. More germane to the rumor, however, is the fact that the case  at hand did not involve the national Fox News cable channel (the case  substantially predates the Fox News cable channel’s current 24-hour coverage), but rather a local Tampa Bay television station (WTVT) that was an affiliate station of the Fox network.
 Additionally, the events that led up to the “Fox lies” case were not  about the station’s day-to-day programming; rather, the legal battle to  which the rumor refers was about a husband-and-wife reporting team (Jane  Aker and Steve Wilson) who objected to being involved in an unaired  story about bovine growth hormones (BGH) due to what the pair believed  was a corporate conflict of interest.  The reporters claimed they had  been unfairly terminated from their jobs for “resisting WTVT’s attempts  to distort or suppress the BGH story”:
 
In September 1997, WTVT notified Akre and Wilson that it  was exercising its option to terminate their employment contracts  without cause. Akre and Wilson responded in writing to WTVT threatening  to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”)  alleging that the station had “illegally” edited the still unfinished  BGH report in violation of an FCC policy against federally licensed  broadcasters deliberately distorting the news. The parties never  resolved their differences regarding the content of the story, and  consequently, the story never aired.
 In April 1998, Akre and Wilson sued WTVT alleging, among other  things, claims under the whistle-blower’s statute. Those claims alleged  that their terminations had been in retaliation for their resisting  WTVT’s attempts to distort or suppress the BGH story and for threatening  to report the alleged news distortion to the FCC. Akre also brought  claims for declaratory relief and for breach of contract. After a  four-week trial, a jury found against Wilson on all of his claims. The  trial court directed a verdict against Akre on her breach of contract  claim, Akre abandoned her claim for declaratory relief, and the trial  court let her whistle-blower claims go to the jury. The jury rejected  all of Akre’s claims except her claim that WTVT retaliated against her  in response to her threat to disclose the alleged news distortion to the  FCC. The jury awarded Akre $425,000 in damages(in part)