Jane Akre & Steve Wilson Win Prestigious
Goldman Award for Exposing rBGH Coverup

Monday, April 23, 2001
From: PR Watch editors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber <editor@prwatch.org>
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Congratulations to investigative TV journalists Jane Akre and Steve
Wilson, recipients of this year's prestigious 2001 Goldman Environmental
Prize. Jane Akre tells the couple's story of their courageous battle
against media censorship at the hands of the Fox and Monsanto corporations
in PR Watch Volume 7, #4, at <www.prwatch.org>.

Three years ago in PR Watch Volume 5, #2, also at <www.prwatch.org>,
we revealed how Akre and Wilson were fired by Fox TV station WTVT in
Tampa after refusing to go along with misleading alterations to their story about
Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (BGH). Last August
Jane Akre won a landmark whistleblower lawsuit against WTVT, yet their
former network continues its legal efforts to reverse the ruling and crush them
financially.

The Goldman Environmental Prize which Akre and Wilson will receive this
evening at a ceremony in San Francisco is an honor that should send a message
to journalists everywhere. We hope that their example will encourage other
reporters to display similar courage in standing up against efforts at self-censorship
by media corporations and their advertisers.

Journalists should examine this case and its implications. If the Fox
network and Monsanto could destroy the careers of these two seasoned
reporters, the same thing could happen to anyone. With few resources other
than courage and truth Akre and Wilson have struggled to place issues before
the public that otherwise would remain hidden from view. In addition to
their battle in the courts, they have used the skills they honed in the newsroom
to fight back in the court of public opinion, refusing to be silenced.
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Relevant websites:
Goldman Environmental Prize: <www.goldmanprize.org>
Jane Akre & Steve Wilson <www.foxbghsuit.com>
PR Watch <www.prwatch.org>
Organic Consumers Association <www.organicconsumers.org>