Hussein translator on CBS used fake accent: report
The man who spoke Saddam Hussein’s words in English during a CBS interview with Dan Rather late last month was an actor using a fake Arabic accent, the Los Angeles Times reported Mar. 5.
The paper said Steve Winfield is a member of the Screen Actors Guild who bills himself on a web site called “Fabulous Voices” as an expert in putting on foreign accents. CBS said in a statement that the network vouched 100 percent for the accuracy of the translation which was read on air in English in a voice compatible “with the piece.”
The White House had criticized CBS for what is said was the network’s refusal to let the Bush administration rebut “irresponsible statements,” propaganda and lies by Hussein during the interview. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said CBS would allow a response only by Bush himself, but CBS denied that charge and said it would accept appearances by Bush, Dick Cheney, or Colin Powell. (Reuters)

Appellate court rules media can legally lie
On Feb. 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information.
On Aug. 18, 2000, a jury unanimously concluded that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station’s pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was “a false, distorted, or slanted” story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows. The court did not dispute the heart of Akre’s claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers.
Fox tried and failed three different times to have the case tossed out. Its attorneys argued that the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
But the Florida Court of Appeals held that the FCC position against news distortion is only a “policy,” not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation. (Sierra Times)

Hollywood actors raise McCarthyism specter on Iraq
Hollywood actors, facing a vitriolic backlash for their opposition to a war against Iraq, have raised the specter of Cold War McCarthyism in an appeal to avoid returning to one of the movie industry’s darkest hours.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) said that a slew of hate-mail has been directed at actors who have taken a public personal stand against the war, along with calls for boycotts of movies and albums on the nation’s talk radio airwaves and Internet message boards.
“We deplore the idea that those in the public eye should suffer professionally for having the courage to give voice to their views. Even a hint of the blacklist must never again be tolerated in this nation,” SAG said in a statement. (Reuters)

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