TEXAS REPORTER MAY SUE FOR SLANDER

By: Staff Reports Firefighters Allegedly Spread Rumors


CHICAGO -- For reporter Rachelann Ferris, covering the Magnolia Bend Volunteer Fire Department for The Courier in Conroe, Texas, quickly changed from just another duty on her police beat to a virtual "Peyton Place" drama.

Firefighters in the town 40 miles north of Houston are bitterly divided over a proposal to create a new firehouse in the River Plantation subdivision. Three Magnolia Bend volunteers, upset at Ferris' reporting of the issue, spread rumors Ferris was seen necking in the parking lot with the chief of the upstart River Plantation department.

Until Managing Editor Jim Fredricks investigated the allegations, Ferris faced possible dismissal not just from the beat -- but her job. "I became convinced that the allegations were groundless and were simply an attempt to influence our coverage and damage our credibility," Fredricks said.

"They were slandering both her professional reputation and her personal reputation, and in Texas both of those are defamatory per se," Ferris' attorney Robert M. Pullis said. "In Texas, I don't have to prove she lost her job or even suffered ten cents' worth of damage to win this."

Ferris said she'll sue unless the firefighters apologize. So far, they've refused. The only firefighter who could be reached last week, Debbie Reed, offered to talk later in the day but did not return that call or later messages.

Ferris no longer covers the departmental dispute, but Fredricks says that hasn't helped Magnolia Bend's cause: "The new guy is just as aggressive, so I don't think they got the desired effect."



Mark Fitzgerald (mfitzgerald@editorandpublisher.com) is editor at large for E&P.



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