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Report Archive:
July 18, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Day 2
July 17, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Day 1
July 14, 2000:
Justice For Sale In Tampa?
Finally at the courthouse,
litigants can't afford to use
the courtroom facilities
July 12, 2000:
Fox Loses Key Motion; Jury
Is Seated
Plaintiffs do not have to
prove Fox guilty of violating Communications Act
July 8, 2000:
Potential Landmine Could
Derail Entire Case
June 30, 2000:
Judge Steinberg Ready To
Get Case Back On Track
June 26, 2000:
Another
Judge Says 'No' to Hearing Wilson/Akre v Fox Case
June 21, 2000:
Still No
Judge To Hear Fox/BGH Case While Foxes Dishes More Distortion To WTVT Tampa
Viewers
June 16, 2000:
Trial
Date Pushed Back Again; New Judge To Be Selected
June 8, 2000:
Fox
Manager Who Fired Akre and Wilson In Tampa Gets Big Promotion
David Boylan Flies Into The Sunset to Manage KTTV, Los Angeles
June 6, 2000:
Fox Trial
Will Start Sooner Than Expected
It will proceed in the heat of the summer, probably in July
May 25, 2000:
Fox Trial
Will Not Start June 12 as Scheduled
May 18, 2000:
Fox Still
Stalls on Testimony of Its president Mitchell Stern
Pre-trial hearing is otherwise uneventful
May
8, 2000:
Ralph Nader
Testifies About Broadcasters' Public Interest Requirement
Presidential candidate gives testimony at pre-trial depo
May 5, 2000:
Court-ordered Mediation Is Brief and
Unsuccessful
Trial set to begin June 12
April 28,2000:
Fox Challenges rBGH
Experts At Depositions
Fox lawyers laying ground-
work to tell jurors experts are cancer scaremongers?
April 26,2000:
Walter Cronkite
Testifies on Behalf of Akre & Wilson
Fox lawyers lodge objections
October 19:
Fox Lawyers Insist On Secrecy At Deposition
French TV Ejected
October 18:
FDA Wants Comments on G-M Foods
Public Meetings Start in November
October 13:
Judge Rules: Trial Will Proceed:
Defense loses third effort to have case dismissed
September 24:
MSNBC:
Gene-modified foods might get labels:
Industry weighs voluntary steps, U.S. studies options as well
September 20:
Trial Still Set to Start Soon:
Busy Docket Delays foxBGHsuit
August 4:
MSNBC:
Mutable Feast:
Will the fight over gene-altered food products leapfrog across the Atlantic?
June 30:
Consumers International:
UN Health Group Shuns BGH
June 1:
New York Times:
Farmers Right To Sue Grows - Food Warning Muzzle Likely
May 10:
Corporate Crime Reporter:
Monsanto Officials Join Leading Consumer, Environmental Groups
May 3:
Fox Deceives Viewers in Primetime,
Too
Net Admits Staging after INSIDE EDITION Report
April 30:
Democracy Group Award to
Akre/Wilson
Fired Reporters Cited for "Courage in Journalism"
April 29:
New Trial Date is October
11
Fox Piles On Big-Name Lawyers
April 17:
Clinton Lawyer Joins Fox
Legal Team
David Kendall Involvement Confirmed in Letter to Monsanto
April 16:
Fox Pleads for Another Delay
Later Trial Date to be Set April 29th
April 1:
Judge Says BGH Case Will
Go To Trial
Opening Gavel Falls May 10th
February 16:
PENTHOUSE Exposes BGH,
Fox Coverup:
First-rate story of BGH situation and lawsuit against Fox TV
(rated G -- no nudity, just the story)
January 25:
ENS
Summary of BGH Developments
January 14:
How Fox Wanted to Slant News
of Canadian Concerns
Canadian BGH Concerns Were Big Issue In Firing of Fox Reporters
January 14:
Canada Says NO to BGH!
Read the CBC Story or 
January 14:
Health Canada Rejects Bovine Growth Hormone in Canada
Government News Release
December 16:
Akre & Wilson Win Courage
Award
For Work On Story Which Cost Them Their Jobs
December 15:
ABC NEWS Catches Up on BGH
Read the ABC Story or
November 7:
FOX Legal (8/28) Answers
to Reporters' Complaint Now Available
November 1:
Monsanto
and Fox: Partners in Censorship
PR Watch - Showcase Article
October 30:
Canadians Probe Coverup Claim
Read CBC Story or
October 24:
Reporters Get Top SPJ Ethics
Award
October 22:
BGH Issue Explodes in Canada:
Read CBC Story or
October 7:
SECRET Canadian Study Leaked...
...BGH safety questions unanswered?
Sept 13:
Akre-Wilson Depos Start
Sept 10:
TIMES/St. Petersburg
SP Times covers NutraSweet flap
Sept 10:
Our Story: Fox Still Protecting
Monsanto?
Sept 8:
Fox Pulls Plug on NutraSweet
Foe
Sept 1:
Reporters Respond To Defense
READ
story FOX-TV refused to air...
or
July 14:
Judge refuses to dismiss
all but one count of reporters' suit
July 5:
OBSERVER/London
Digger Still Plays Dirty
July 1:
Depositions Continue, Trial Date
Set
June 7:
TIMES/St. Petersburg
Akre/Wilson Preparing FCC Complaint
May 26:
Judge rejects Defense motion
for Protective Order
May 25:
WEEKLY PLANET/Tampa:
Grazing A Stink
- - -Don't Have a Cow
May 23:
NEW YORK TIMES:
(Silenced) Reporters... Post Web Site
May 21:
Wilson/Akre demand on-air correction
April 29:
FOX-TV asks court:
Dismiss case
and Delay depositions
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NADER TELLS JURY
DISTORTING THE NEWS IS AGAINST THE LAW
By STEVE WILSON
TAMPA
(July 20,2000)Ralph Naders appearance on the witness stand
highlighted the fourth day of testimony in the trial of the two
former Fox journalists who say they were fired for refusing
directives to air false and misleading information about
bovine growth hormone.
After three
more courtroom attempts by Fox lawyers to block his testimony as
unwarranted and prejudicial, Nade sat in the witness box and told
the jurors how television broadcasters have a legal as well as
ethical duty not to distort news broadcast.
Although the FCC
has not been aggressive in enforcing the law against it, he said,
the commission has previously stated there is no act for
heinous than deliberate distortion of the news by companies who
hold broadcast licenses and supposedly serve the public trust.
Under questioning
by co-plaintiff Steve Wilson, Nader said any reporter who would go
along with such directives would himself be guilty of violating the
law that forbids it.
Although Fox lawyers had
filed and lost a motion en limine to keep Nader from even
coming to Tampa to testify, they put forth another strong argument
again after he arrived at the courthouse.
Judge Ralph Steinberg again overruled the objections after
co-plaintiff Jane Akres attorney made a case that Nader is indeed
qualified to offer expert testimony about the public interest
requirements of the Communications Act which governs broadcasters.
Even after Nader
took the stand and began to testify, Fox lawyer William McDaniels
stood up repeatedly to bvoice objections to many of the Naders
responses. Most of those objections were overruled by the court.
Naders
testimony which lasted about 30 minutes and that of Florida dairyman
Charles Knight interrupted three days of testimony from Akre who
finally stepped down from the witness box at the end of the day
Thursday. Knight drove
200 miles to tell the jury about his experiences with rBGH and with
Akre who had contacted him as part of her investigation.
Knight said the
reporter was properly skeptical of the information he provide and
that she acted professionally at all times.
The defense has suggested the journalist may have had her
mind made up to do a critical story about Monsanto even before she
gathered the facts.
The trial
continues Friday with testimony from Forrest Carr, the plaintiffs
expert on ethical journalism. Dr.
Michael Hansen, a scientist for Consumers Union, will also testify
offer expert testimony on rBGH.
Akre was never
shaken on the witness stand in hours of cross examination by Fox
attorney McDaniels.
She acknowledged a
contentious atmosphere with Fox editors and lawyers in wake of
repeated pressure from them to distort the BGH story but she said
she never acted improperly. She
said she wrote and handed in stories as requested but in the end,
Fox never broadcast any of the drafts she and Wilson wrote.
Other Coverage
Tampa Tribune:
Nader
Supports Fired Reporters
St. Petersburg Times:
Nader
Rallies Faithful Before Testimony
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