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Report Archive:
July 26, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Days 8-9
Startling Admission from Fox
V-P Who Fired Wilson/Akre
July 26, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Day 7
V-P News Lays Claim To
Insanity Defense
July 24, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Day 6
Second week of trial begins
July 21, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Day 5
Week one ends with a bang;
Fox seeks mistrial, Judge
says no
July 20, 2000:
Trial Coverage: Days 3 and 4
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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Guest Editorial
Fox/BGH
Trial Is A Wake-up Call
For The Mainstream Media
By BELLE ADLER
The
media is on trial in Tampa, Florida this month but you wouldn't know
it if you read the local papers or turned on the local news.
While you've been reading
details at this website reporting on the Fox/BGH lawsuit reporters
Steve Wilson and Jane Akre have brought against Fox Television, the
landmark trial has been given barely a notice in the St.
Petersburg Times or the Tampa Tribune.
There was an analysis
piece (labeled as news) in the Weekly Planet, the local
alternative paper, but other than that story, the case has been
largely ignored in print.
Tampa Bay area TV
stations, including Fox's competition, seem to have sent this story
into a black hole. I didn't catch even a "news McNugget"
on a case that has everything to do with how Tampa Bay news is
gathered.
To be sure, radio
stations from Augusta, Maine to Adelaide, Australia have generated
international interest and the story has a global following here on
the Internet. But the media folks around Tampa town apparently
couldn't care less.
Wilson and Akre are claiming
Fox pressured them to distort and slant the news, then fired them
both for resisting. The evidence shows pretty clearly that Fox
news managers and lawyers then suppressed important information
about BGH, information that might help viewers decide about the
safety of the milk they drink.
But in a larger sense, the
trial is about the way a broadcaster, using public airwaves, goes
about doing businessand specifically its way of doing
investigative reporting. And the Tampa media doesn't want its
readers and viewers to hear about it.
Well, Tampa town,
listen up.
David Boylan, the former
Fox general manager who fired Akre and Wilson, has now testified
that Fox's preferred style of an investigative report is a
presentation of both sides of an issue without any critical
analysis, or even any effort to test the facts presented on the
air Huh?
Does he and Fox believe
reporters are nothing more than stenographers? Just broadcast
whatever anyone wants to say and claim to be fact? But how can
the public trust what it hears, or know who is lying and who is
telling the truth without seeing the research and hearing the context
necessary to make that decision? Isn't that the reporter's job
and his and her purpose in our democratic society?
Apparently, Fox doesn't think soespecially when the report
concerns a major advertiser like Monsanto.
Unfortunately, too many
newspapers and TV stations agree with Fox. They have
relinquished their duty to be watchdogs in the public
interest. Wake up, you watchdogs! After all, if too many
people notice you are asleep on the job, they may soon not notice
you at all.
Belle Adler is a professor of journalism at Northeastern
University in Boston, following a long and distinguished career as a
news producer at CBS, CNN and elsewhere. She has personally
worked with Steve Wilson and was in Tampa more than a week to
observe the trial and offer support to the plaintiffs.
Additional Coverage:
Weekly
Planet story referred to in editorial above
The BGH Bulletin welcomes editorials or Letters To The
Editor from anyone who wishes to express any point of view on the
Fox/BGH case or the issues at the heart of it. All letters
must be signed and should be sumbitted to the publisher at: wilson@foxBGHsuit.com
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