ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997             TAG: 9701230037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The Washington Post

JURY AWARDS FOOD LION $5.5 MILLION TRUTH OF REPORT WASN'T ISSUE IN ABC HIDDEN-CAMERA CASE

In a striking and costly verdict against the use of hidden cameras in television investigations, a North Carolina jury Wednesday ordered ABC to pay Food Lion more than $5.5million in damages over an undercover ``PrimeTime Live'' report.

The seven-figure punishment was unusual because the supermarket chain did not sue for libel or legally contest the accuracy of the 1992 broadcast, which alleged unsanitary practices at some Food Lion stores. Instead, the federal jury found ABC guilty of fraud and trespassing for the way its two producers lied to get jobs as Food Lion clerks and then shot footage with miniature cameras hidden in their wigs. ABC plans to appeal.

In an interview, ABC News President Roone Arledge defended the use of hidden cameras, saying: ``We only do this if it's a very important story and there's no other way to get it. These people were doing terrible things, and we documented it by our cameras. The subject was very, very important. It's not a thing we do lightly.''

While calling the verdict ``unconscionable,'' Arledge said that ``in light of this decision, we're going to have to take a harder look at how we do these things. But we won't be deterred from bona fide investigative journalism.''

Food Lion attorney Richard Wyatt hailed the verdict but disputed the potential impact. ``I've seen thousands of hard-working journalists out there who don't break the law,'' he said by telephone from Greensboro, N.C. ``This won't affect them.'' He said ABC authorized the probe ``without a great deal of internal safeguards.''

Tom Smith, chief executive of the 1,100-store chain, said in a statement that ``this case was not just about money. It was about right and wrong.''

The jury foreman, Gregory Mack, indicated that jurors were sending a message. ``The media has the right to bring the news, but they have to watch what they do,'' he told The Associated Press. ``It's like a football game: There are boundaries, and you have to make sure you don't go outside the boundaries.''

The jury struggled for six days to decide on punitive damages, which were less than the $52million to $1.9billion sought by Food Lion.

The ``PrimeTime'' report, anchored by Diane Sawyer, who testified at the trial, charged Food Lion with bleaching and doctoring spoiled fish and meat for resale. The company said the broadcast cost it $1.5billion in lost stock value and $233million in profits. But U.S. District Judge Carlton Tilley Jr. ruled that Food Lion could not seek damages for lost business caused by the broadcast.

After the Dec.20 verdict of fraud and trespass, the same jury assessed ABC $1,400 in compensatory damages.

The Food Lion suit has been closely watched because hidden-camera reports have become a popular staple of network newsmagazine shows.

Bruce Sanford, a First Amendment lawyer in Washington, described the award as ``5.5 million lashes, a case of whipping the messenger, pure and simple.''

``There's a substantial question here,'' he said, ``about whether the punitive damage is constitutional. It ought to be perfectly logical you can't levy punitive damages when the only harm was embarrassment from truthful reporting. Here is a classic case where ABC's only choice was not to do the story. I think you can expect journalists in the wake of this to give us more stories about Dennis Rodman and Madonna instead of more stories that are important to us.''

But William Serrin, chairman of the journalism department at New York University, cautioned that the use of hidden cameras and other subterfuges should be used gingerly as ``journalism of a last resort.''

Serrin, a former New York Times reporter, said he is not sure the ``PrimeTime'' broadcast was a good use of the tactic. ``I didn't think it was the world's greatest story,'' he said. ``It was typical television fare, not particularly good journalism.''

LENGTH: Medium:   77 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. ABC attorney Bill Jeffress (left) stands with ABC 
          producers Susan Barnett (center) and Lynn Dale, who landed jobs at 
          Food Lion and went to work with tiny cameras in their wigs. color.