Page 200 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Hypercommerc al sm | 1

the suit against nBC
Those concerned with press freedom in the age of corporate media conglomeration point
to professional journalists as the ones able to protect the public’s right to know. While jour-
nalists often resist pressures, their careers and incomes are often on the line, and most are
aware that lifestyle stories boost ratings and please managers. Former Gulf-war correspond-
ent Arthur Kent (who became known as the Scud Stud during the war) was hired as Dateline’s
foreign correspondent. Kent was committed to serious news and foreign reporting, and when
NBC fired him in 1992, he brought suit against corporate news managers. He said producers
were reluctant to air his reports because entertainment division executives believed they had
no commercial value. The legal case, including transcripts of testimony, offers rare insights
into how corporate executives define news, and how the G.E.-appointed NBC news manag-
ers had been told to “bring down the barriers” between news and entertainment. The case
demonstrated the loss of editorial autonomy in the news division in pursuit of entertainment
fare. Though his case was settled and is considered a victory, Kent concluded that working
journalists have less real influence on the daily news agenda then ever before.

entertainment, and other profit-making priorities have crossed the line into news
divisions and affected editorial decisions (see “The Suit against NBC” sidebar).

Fox nEws anD monsanTo

One case illustrates these concerns. In December 1996 investigative reporters
Steve Wilson and Jane Akre were hired by Fox 13 in Tampa Bay to do hard-
hitting local reporting. They quickly uncovered a story critical of Monsanto,
the largest agrochemical company, the second largest seed company, and the
fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the world, and a main advertiser on
the Fox Network nationally. Monsanto produces a synthetic bovine growth hor-
mone (BGH) marketed under the name Prosilac. Prosilac is banned in Canada
and Europe because of its links to cancers of the colon, breast, and prostate, and
the bacterial and antibiotic residues left in milk. Akre found that virtually all
milk sold in Florida came from cows injected with Prosilac, and even though
labeling is required, consumers were not being informed. After two months of
investigation, the reporters produced a news report. But the story was pulled
(Wilson 1998). As the incident became well-known among First Amendment
scholars and critics, they found that Monsanto was a client of Actmedia, an ad-
vertising firm also owned by Rupert Murdoch, who owns NewsCorp, the parent
company of Fox News. The case raised concerns about the decreasing number
of companies that control the media, and their willingness to protect corporate
interest instead of informing the public.

markET JournaLism

The overall negative effects on journalism are multifaceted and come from a
combination of commercial factors. Editor-at-large of the Columbia Journalism