UNITED STATES: Fox 'violated whistle-blower act'

August 30, 2000
Issue 
418
World

UNITED STATES: Fox 'violated whistle-blower act'

After a three-year fight to clear their names, Jane Akre and Steve Wilson won a partial victory on August 18 against former employer Fox TV.

A Tampa, Florida, jury found that Akre was fired by Fox affiliate WTVT because she threatened to tell the Federal Communications Commission of a distorted and false news report which the station planned to air about biotechnology giant Monsanto's bovine growth hormone (see article in Green Left Weekly #400).

But the same jury found against Wilson, partially justifying Fox's decision to fire him as a "difficult employee".

The plaintiffs claimed under Florida's whistle-blower law that Fox tried to distort their story after Monsanto threatened "dire consequences" if the report aired. Fox said it would appeal the $500,000 in damages ordered to be paid to Akre.

[From Media Channel at <http://www.mediachannel.org>.]

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