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 DISNEY PERSUADED NEWS CORP. TO FIRE NY POST REPORTER, SUIT SAYS Sun Apr 14 2002 13:24:45 ET The Walt Disney Co. persuaded editors at News Corp.'s New York Post to fire a reporter who wrote a story the second-largest media company didn't like, the reporter claims in a lawsuit. Nikki Finke says the Post fired her after Disney objected to two articles concerning a breach-of-contract lawsuit over Winnie the Pooh merchandising rights. Finke claims her articles were accurate, and the media companies libeled her by saying she was fired as a result of errors. Finke's breach of contract, libel and infliction of emotional distress seeks $10 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages for the damage the "unholy alliance" between Disney and News Corp. caused her reputation, the suit said. "The New York Post succumbed to threats and economic pressure from Disney and silenced a reporter after she truthfully reported about Disney's destruction of documents in a lawsuit posing a serious risk to Disney's profitability," according to the suit. Disney spokesman John Dreyer, who is also named as a defendant in the suit, didn't immediately return a call for comment late today. Sydney-based News Corp. couldn't immediately be reached. Finke's Jan. 29 story, headlined "Pooh Scandal is Shred Hot," concerned a judge's $90,000 fine last year against Disney for destroying documents. A second story, "Deep Pooh Pooh," focused on the impact the potential loss of the Winnie the Pooh license might have on Disney's revenue. The Post has never run any correction or amendment to her original articles, Finke alleges. She claims it was not the facts but the "tone" of those articles that antagonized Disney executives -- a tone she alleges was created in large part by Post editors through "inflammatory headlines, creating snide illustrations ... alter(ing) the text of the articles she had filed, adding references to 'shredding' of documents which did not appear in the Pooh Articles as filed by Finke, and deleting other language." "In their effort to find a scapegoat to punish for unflattering press accounts of Disney's behavior 21 days before the Disney annual shareholder meeting, Disney representatives -- without investigating whether Finke or others were responsible -- publicly blamed Finke for what they did not like, and the Post, instead of supporting Finke and acknowledging its responsibility for the 'tone,' cravenly tried to placate its business associate and major advertiser Disney," she alleges. Finke alleges her reputation has been "irretrievably damaged" by the fallout from the story. She seeks $10 million for lost wages, emotional damage slander and other causes. END [Wires] |
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