SPJ LIBEL SUIT SETTLED

By: Randy Dotinga Journalism Textbook Got Facts Wrong





The Society of Professional Journalists, which dedicates itself to the protection of free-press rights, has agreed to settle a libel suit filed by a TV anchor who said an SPJ journalism textbook exaggerated his own ethical wrongdoing. The SPJ will pay an $18,000 settlement to cover the legal fees of plaintiff Mike Snyder, a top anchor at KXAS-TV, NBC's affiliate in Dallas.



The SPJ, the book's publisher and the Poynter Institute agreed to issue separate apologies on their Web sites. The settlement was announced in the October issue of Quill, the SPJ's magazine, which also disclosed that the organization and the book's authors spent $84,000 on legal fees. A libel insurance deductible of $5,000 will come out of the SPJ's $1.8 million annual budget. SPJ, which claims 10,000 members in the U.S., has never been sued for libel before.



The lawsuit revolved around Snyder's activities in 1994, when he was invited to emcee a Republican women's fundraiser picnic. "I reluctantly agreed," Snyder told E&P Online. "That was a lapse of good judgment and left the impression of partisanship." Snyder was suspended by his employer for two weeks without pay for appearing at the event.



The third edition of "Doing Ethics in Journalism: A Handbook With Case Studies," published in 1997, recapped the story but got several facts wrong. Snyder learned about the textbook's allegations after journalism students called to interview him.



According to a statement published in Quill and on the SPJ website, a conflict-of-interest case study in the textbook incorrectly said Snyder "acted as master of ceremonies during rallies for Bush at several campaign stops" and "often introduced Bush as 'the next Governor of Texas.'"



The book also wrongly said Snyder was a "volunteer" for the Bush campaign. The statement placed some of the blame on a researcher who incorrectly summarized information printed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The book's authors - University of South Florida professor Jay Black, Poynter Institute faculty member Bob Steele and Brigham Young University professor Ralph Barney - signed the statement.



The Poynter Institute, which employs Steele as an ethics group leader, issued a statement regretting that the Snyder case study did not live up to the book's billing by Poynter as "something no serious journalist should be without."


SPJ executive director Jim Gray portrayed the settlement as an attempt to avoid expensive, protracted litigation. "We believe that we would have prevailed had the case gone to trial," he said, partly because a libel statute of limitations under federal law would have passed. The case, however, was filed in Texas state court.



Snyder is still furious about the textbook's statements about him, which he said were fabricated. "They created a story about me, dragging my name and reputation through the mud, with facts that do not exist," he said.







Randy Dotinga is a free-lancer based in San Diego.







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