ABC News’ reporting on food has gotten it into trouble once again.
Beef Products, Inc. (BPI), the target of a series of stories earlier in
2012, has filed suit against the network for $1.2 billion.
BPI is charging ABC with “defamation, product and food disparagement, tortious interference with business relationships, and other wrongs” in a 263-page complaint. The lawsuit charges the network made “nearly 200 false and disparaging statements regarding BPI and its product, lean finely textured beef.”
The suit is based on ABC stories that began March 7 and depicted lean beef manufactured by BPI as “pink slime,” a term used by an activist and repeatedly cited by the network. The suit claims the term “pink slime” was used 137 times by the network and used as a synonym for the beef. “There is not a more offensive way of describing a food product than to call it ‘slime,’ which is a noxious, repulsive and filthy fluid not safe for human consumption,” the suit claims.
Those ABC stories went on for nearly two months, causing retailers to drop the product. The suit alleges that “ABC sought to interfere and damage BPI’s business relationships with grocery and ground beef processors.” BPI shut down three plants and 650 workers lost their jobs because of a decline in demand for the product.
Read more: http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/abc-news-sued-12-billion-anti-beef-attacks-nearly-200-false-and-disparaging
BPI is charging ABC with “defamation, product and food disparagement, tortious interference with business relationships, and other wrongs” in a 263-page complaint. The lawsuit charges the network made “nearly 200 false and disparaging statements regarding BPI and its product, lean finely textured beef.”
The suit is based on ABC stories that began March 7 and depicted lean beef manufactured by BPI as “pink slime,” a term used by an activist and repeatedly cited by the network. The suit claims the term “pink slime” was used 137 times by the network and used as a synonym for the beef. “There is not a more offensive way of describing a food product than to call it ‘slime,’ which is a noxious, repulsive and filthy fluid not safe for human consumption,” the suit claims.
Those ABC stories went on for nearly two months, causing retailers to drop the product. The suit alleges that “ABC sought to interfere and damage BPI’s business relationships with grocery and ground beef processors.” BPI shut down three plants and 650 workers lost their jobs because of a decline in demand for the product.
Read more: http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/abc-news-sued-12-billion-anti-beef-attacks-nearly-200-false-and-disparaging
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