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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

FIRED FOX TV REPORTERS FEATURED IN INDY FILM "THE CORPORATION" ARE STILL 
FIGHTING FOX NEWS DISTORTION; WILL CHALLENGE RENEWAL OF WTVT FOX-13 LICENSE

The whole sordid story of media misconduct in Tampa is a centerpiece of the 
new independent film "The Corporation." 

Here is a quick summary of the developments in our long-suffering efforts to 
seek justice through the court:

 On December 2, 1997, Fox dismissed Jane and Steve.

 On April 2, 1998, Jane and Steve filed a civil lawsuit against WTVT/Fox 
charging they were fired for refusing to broadcast what they knew   and 
documented   to be lies and distortions in a series of news reports about 
bovine growth hormone and for threatening to expose the station's misconduct 
to the FCC. 

On August 18, 2000, following a five-week trial, a Florida state court jury 
found that Fox terminated Jane for opposing the broadcast of a "false, 
distorted, or slanted news report" and awarded her $425,000. Fox appealed. 
(Steve, who represented himself at trial, received nothing on his identical 
claim.)

On February 14, 2003, the Florida Court of Appeal overturned the jury's 
verdict 

(though not its finding that the story was false, distorted or slanted). 

The decision was based largely on the grounds that since it is not against 
any promulgated law, rule, or regulation 

for a licensed broadcaster to deliberately distort the news or lie on the 
air, 

Akre and Wilson were never deserving of protection as whistleblowers in the 
first place.