Jane Akre
Jane Akre is an American journalist best known for the
Professional life
Akre began her career at a small radio station as a news reporter and occasional
Following her issues with WTVT, she took a series of jobs and was featured in The Corporation regarding her whistleblower lawsuit. In 2007 Akre became the editor-in-chief of the national news desk at InjuryBoard.com.[1]
Whistleblower lawsuit
In 1997, Wilson and Akre began work on a story regarding the
WTVT did not run the report, and later argued in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism". Wilson and Akre then claimed that WTVT's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered that it was looking only for fairness. According to Wilson and Akre, the two rewrote the report over 80 times over the course of 1997, and WTVT decided to exercise "its option to terminate their employment contracts without cause,"[3] and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT later ran a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.[2]
When their contracts were not renewed, Wilson and Akre filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's alleged news distortion under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the Monsanto
An appeal was filed, and a ruling in February 2003 came down in favor of WTVT, who successfully argued that the FCC policy against falsification was not a "law, rule, or regulation", and so the whistle-blower law did not qualify as the required "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes.[5] ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes,[5] Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute."[3] The appeal did not address any falsification claims, noting that "as a threshold matter ... Akre failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute," but noted that the lower court ruled against all of Wilson's charges and all of Akre's claims with the exception of the whistleblower claim that was overturned.[3]
The 2003 documentary,
The two lost that final challenge with the FCC in July 2007 calling the conflict an "editorial dispute ... rather than a deliberate effort by [WTVT] to distort news."[10]
References
- ^ a b c InjuryBoard.com biography: Jane Akre. URL accessed 8 April 2010. Archived April 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g Reason: "The Strange Case of Steve Wilson," John Sugg, May 2006 issue.
- ^ a b c d New World Communs. of Tampa, Inc. v. Akre, 866 So. 2d 1231(2003)
- ^ Prepared Statement: Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, 2 April 1998. URL accessed 8 April 2010.
- ^ a b Florida Laws: FL Statutes – Title XXXI Labor Section 448.01 Legal day's work; extra pay Archived 2010-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Corporation.
- ^ Project Censored Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine: The Media Can Legally Lie. 2003. URL accessed 8 April 2010.
- Harper Collins Publishers, p182.
- ^ Society of Professional Journalists for Performing in an Outstanding Ethical Manner.
- ^ "StackPath".