Steve Wilson (reporter)
Encyclopedia
Steve Wilson is an American news reporter. Currently running his own nonprofit investigative reporting group, he is best known for his whistleblower lawsuit with then-wife Jane Akre
against WTVT
in 1997 and his work as WXYZ-TV
's Chief Investigative Reporter in Detroit, Michigan
in the late 2000s.
, a nationally syndicated tabloid
program. He would stay with Inside Edition for more than five years, and many of his reports won Emmy Awards for consumer reporting.
Wilson met his future wife, Jane Akre, at a journalism convention in Washington. The two later moved to South Florida and eventually to Tampa, where they joined WTVT, the local Fox owned-and-operated television station.
and recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a milk additive that had been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration
but also blamed for a number of health issues. Wilson and Akre planned a four part investigative report on Monsanto's use of rBGH, which prompted Monsanto to write to Roger Ailes
, president of Fox News Channel
, in an attempt to have the report reviewed for bias and because of the "enormous damage that can be done" as a result of the report.
WTVT chose not to run the report, and they would later argue in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism." Wilson and Akre then claimed that Monsanto's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered 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," and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT would later run a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.
Following Wilson and Akre's contract not being renewed, the two filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's "news distortion" under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the BGH story." In a joint statement, Wilson claimed that he and Akre "were repeatedly ordered to go forward and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story," and "were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate lobbying by Monsanto (the powerful drug company that makes the hormone) and also ... by members of Florida’s dairy and grocery industries." The trial commenced in summer 2000 with a jury dismissing all of the claims brought to trial by Wilson, but siding with one aspect of Akre's complaint, awarding Akre $425000 and agreeing that Akre was a whistleblower because she believed there were violations of the 1934 Federal Communications Act and that she planned on reporting WTVT to the Federal Communications Commission
. Akre's argument in the trial was that they did not have to prove actual news distortion, but that they instead believed such distortion occurred.
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. ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102, Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute." 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.
Wilson and Akre became popular among many media outlets. The 2003 documentary The Corporation featured Wilson and Akre discussing their battle with WTVT, with Wilson claiming that the jury "determined that the story they pressured us to broadcast, the story we resisted telling, was in fact false, distorted, or slanted." Project Censored
called their story one of the "Most Censored Stories" of 2003, claiming that the "Court Ruled That the Media Can Legally Lie." Robert F. Kennedy Jr. later quoted Wilson in his book, Crimes Against Nature, with Wilson asking "[W]hat reporter is going to challenge a network ... if the station can retaliate by suing the reporter to oblivion the way the courts are letting them do to us?" Following the story, Akre and Wilson won the Goldman Environmental Prize
for the report, as well as an Ethics in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists
. The two continue to challenge WTVT's license, the last such challenge coming in 2005.
media
, Wilson joined WXYZ-TV
in Detroit
, Michigan in 2001. In 2005, Wilson filed a report regarding the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a fund created by Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
to help improvements in education and voter empowerment. The reports continued, with the situation escalating. Kilpatrick's bodyguards shoved Wilson in one instance. Wilson also followed Kilpatrick around the country, at one point booking a plane ticket directly next to the Mayor in an attempt to corner him for an interview. The City of Detroit later prepared and broadcasted a video
attacking Wilson on its city-controlled Public-access television
cable TV channel, entitled Steve Wilson, the Inventive Reporter.
ger Dave Shea, Wilson noted his intent to start a not-for-profit news organization he originally dubbed The Michigan Center for Investigative Reporting. On the day Wilson's non-profit (ultimately named The Michigan News Center) was to go live on the Internet, he suffered a massive heart attack. On life support for nearly a week, he later said he owed his life to the efforts of the cardiac team at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Shortly ater being released, Wilson ultimately posted his site and continued efforts to gain community support for the Center.
Jane Akre
Jane Akre is a former Florida journalist and current editor-in-chief of InjuryBoard.com. She is best known for the whistleblower lawsuit by herself and her husband, Steve Wilson, against Fox Broadcasting Company station WTVT in Tampa, Florida...
against WTVT
WTVT
WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...
in 1997 and his work as WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
's Chief Investigative Reporter in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
in the late 2000s.
Professional life
Wilson began his news career offering investigative news reports to various outlets in the 1980s. His reports were aired by CBS and ABC affiliates, and eventually led to Wilson joining Inside EditionInside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
, a nationally syndicated tabloid
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
program. He would stay with Inside Edition for more than five years, and many of his reports won Emmy Awards for consumer reporting.
Wilson met his future wife, Jane Akre, at a journalism convention in Washington. The two later moved to South Florida and eventually to Tampa, where they joined WTVT, the local Fox owned-and-operated television station.
WTVT Whistleblower lawsuit
In 1997, Wilson and Akre began work on a story regarding the agricultural biotechnology company MonsantoMonsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
and recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a milk additive that had been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
but also blamed for a number of health issues. Wilson and Akre planned a four part investigative report on Monsanto's use of rBGH, which prompted Monsanto to write to Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
, president of Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, in an attempt to have the report reviewed for bias and because of the "enormous damage that can be done" as a result of the report.
WTVT chose not to run the report, and they would later argue in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism." Wilson and Akre then claimed that Monsanto's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered 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," and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT would later run a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.
Following Wilson and Akre's contract not being renewed, the two filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's "news distortion" under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the BGH story." In a joint statement, Wilson claimed that he and Akre "were repeatedly ordered to go forward and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story," and "were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate lobbying by Monsanto (the powerful drug company that makes the hormone) and also ... by members of Florida’s dairy and grocery industries." The trial commenced in summer 2000 with a jury dismissing all of the claims brought to trial by Wilson, but siding with one aspect of Akre's complaint, awarding Akre $425000 and agreeing that Akre was a whistleblower because she believed there were violations of the 1934 Federal Communications Act and that she planned on reporting WTVT to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
. Akre's argument in the trial was that they did not have to prove actual news distortion, but that they instead believed such distortion occurred.
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. ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102, Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute." 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.
Wilson and Akre became popular among many media outlets. The 2003 documentary The Corporation featured Wilson and Akre discussing their battle with WTVT, with Wilson claiming that the jury "determined that the story they pressured us to broadcast, the story we resisted telling, was in fact false, distorted, or slanted." Project Censored
Project Censored
Project Censored is a non-profit, media criticism and investigative journalism project within the Sonoma State University Foundation. It is managed through the School of Social Sciences at the university....
called their story one of the "Most Censored Stories" of 2003, claiming that the "Court Ruled That the Media Can Legally Lie." Robert F. Kennedy Jr. later quoted Wilson in his book, Crimes Against Nature, with Wilson asking "[W]hat reporter is going to challenge a network ... if the station can retaliate by suing the reporter to oblivion the way the courts are letting them do to us?" Following the story, Akre and Wilson won the Goldman Environmental Prize
Goldman Environmental Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of...
for the report, as well as an Ethics in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
. The two continue to challenge WTVT's license, the last such challenge coming in 2005.
Kwame Kilpatrick and the Civic Fund
After spending some time away from the broadcastBroadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, Wilson joined WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan in 2001. In 2005, Wilson filed a report regarding the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a fund created by Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Malik Kilpatrick is a former mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Kilpatrick's mayorship was plagued by numerous scandals and rampant accusations of corruption, with the mayor eventually resigning after being charged with ten felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice...
to help improvements in education and voter empowerment. The reports continued, with the situation escalating. Kilpatrick's bodyguards shoved Wilson in one instance. Wilson also followed Kilpatrick around the country, at one point booking a plane ticket directly next to the Mayor in an attempt to corner him for an interview. The City of Detroit later prepared and broadcasted a video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
attacking Wilson on its city-controlled Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV channel, entitled Steve Wilson, the Inventive Reporter.
Beyond WXYZ
In 2010, Wilson's contract at WXYZ was not renewed. The station's corporate management called it "a business decision." Wilson claimed he was let go "by a corporate owner who is not in this community." In a follow-up email to Deroit blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger Dave Shea, Wilson noted his intent to start a not-for-profit news organization he originally dubbed The Michigan Center for Investigative Reporting. On the day Wilson's non-profit (ultimately named The Michigan News Center) was to go live on the Internet, he suffered a massive heart attack. On life support for nearly a week, he later said he owed his life to the efforts of the cardiac team at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Shortly ater being released, Wilson ultimately posted his site