by Jane Akre It's perfect. A television news organization, just found guilty of distorting the news, slants the news regarding the ruling.
The jury rendered its verdict just after five o'clock on the Friday evening of August 18. Fox WTVT ran the first story near the top of its 6 p.m. broadcast. The initial story on WTVT was a fairly straightforward report announcing to Tampa viewers that the jury had awarded me damages because the "station violated the state's whistleblower law." The news anchor announced the reason for the verdict in my favor, "because she refused to lie in that report and threatened to tell the FCC about it."
By 10 p.m., however, the Fox corporate spinmeisters had rewritten the story entirely, crafting a devastatingly embarrassing loss into "good news" for their side. "Today is a wonderful day for Fox 13, because I think we are completely vindicated on the finding of this jury that we do not distort news, we do not lie about the news, we do not slant the news, we are professionals," said Fox news director Phil Metlin, looking rather uncomfortable on camera.
Metlin's statement is at odds with the jury's own unanimous verdict as clearly stated on the official verdict form, which asks, "Do you find that Plaintiff Jane Akre has proven, by the greater weight of the evidence, that the Defendant, through its employees or agents, terminated her employment or took other retaliatory personnel action against her, because she threatened to disclose to the Federal Communications Commission under oath, in writing, the broadcast of a false, distorted, or slanted news report which she reasonably believed would violate the prohibition against intentional falsification or distortion of the news on television, if it were aired?"
"Yes," the jury answered.
If indeed Fox regards the jury verdict as "complete vindication," the network should abandon its appeals, accept the verdict, and pay up. The check would be greatly appreciated. But that will never happen, because Fox would rather show its other employees in media outlets around the world what can happen if you mess with Murdoch. They will easily spend four times our award just to make that point.
