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6 Rutgers J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 745 (2008-2009)
Whistleblowing and the Intentional Distortion of News

handle is hein.journals/rutjulp6 and id is 766 raw text is: Spring 2009 Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy WHISTLEBLOWING AND THE INTENTIONAL DISTORTION OF NEWS Jessica Bisignanol Jane Akre and Steve Wilson were faced with a dilemma: alter a news story in a way inconsistent with the truth, or face retaliation from Fox News. After eighty-three drafts, all failing to satisfy the requirements of the Fox News attorneys, the team was fired. Akre and Wilson were an award-winning investigative team hired by Fox News for a new news program. Having been hired to expose crime, corruption, and scandal, the team began researching the use of bovine growth hormones (BGH) in the dairy farming industry. This industry uses BGH to stimulate IGF-i in cattle, which increases milk production by thirty percent. The resulting report exposed the potential danger to public health, linking BGH consumption to breast and colon cancer. In addition to uncovering the health risks associated with BGH, the team's four-part story showed that many people were consuming BGH-enhanced milk unknowingly due to lack of appropriate labels on milk cartons. The journalists never had the opportunity to air their program on BGH once Monsanto, a producer of BGH, strongly advised the Fox network to revise the story. Akre and Wilson tried to comply with the requests to redraft the story, but they refused to distort it. The corporate pressure Fox News faced from Monsanto prevented the accurate reporting of an extremely important public health story about the consumption of milk and resulted in the team's termination. Unfortunately, the team was fired because they refused to 1 B.A., Political Science, University of Pennsylvania (2005); J.D., Rutgers University School of Law - Camden (2009); M.B.A., Rutgers University School of Business - Camden (2009). 745 Vol 6:3

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