Handel denied making such representations.Ī producer on the story later testified that Kennedy told her that on a coast-to-coast run, he would typically exceed the permissible number of driving hours. Veilleux also alleged that Handel said he would not include an anti-trucking group in the segment, and knew that Veilleux and Kennedy would not participate if he included the group. Kennedy’s employer, Raymond Veilleux, testified that when he asked Handel about his “intentions” for the story, Handel said that he wanted to show what driving is really like with a safe, lawful driver, to counteract the bad publicity the industry had received. Kennedy would later testify that Handel stated that he had “heard you guys had a lot of negative publicity up there in Maine” and that he’d like to “do a little thing to put us in a positive light, instead of all the negative publicity we’ve had.” Kennedy acknowledged when asked by Handel that he “occasionally” made minor falsifications to his logbook. He contacted trucker Peter Kennedy to see if Kennedy would participate in the story. The court also held that a trucker who sued the network over its story on dangers posed by long-haul truckers cannot recover on defamation claims when he had provided or confirmed much of the false information.Īlan Handel, a freelance producer working for “Dateline NBC,” was preparing a story on the dangers of long-distance trucking in 1994. Producers of “Dateline NBC” can be liable for misrepresentation when they make specific promises concerning events within their control, such as whether a certain advocacy group will be included in a story, but not for more general claims, such as that a story would be a “positive” look at the trucking industry, according to the U.S. From the Spring 2000 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 19.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |