| Printed from JudicialWatch.org Dec 1, 1999 |
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
Judicial Watch's Fundraising and Education Expenses Have and Will Generate Additional Capital for Judicial Watch to Use for Litigation (Washington, D.C.) Tonight, Bill O'Reilly, in an obvious effort to appear "fair and balanced," admittedly discussed Judicial Watch in the context of Jesse Jackson and his alleged fundraising foibles. At the outset of the show, O'Reilly stated that Klayman had refused to come on the show. This is incorrect. Instead, as stated in a previous press release this evening, "FOX News Violates Journalistic Ethics And Agreement With Judicial Watch," Klayman explained that O'Reilly and FOX had agreed not to discuss the libelous article written by The National Law Journal until Klayman had a chance to appear to respond. However, without any notice to Judicial Watch, this morning FOX ran a promo stating that a national magazine had reported "financial shenanigans" at Judicial Watch. Klayman asked FOX to remove the promo from the air because it was slanderous and because it violated the agreement with Judicial Watch, as well as journalistic ethics. The same promo was run on FOX's website. After Klayman sent a letter to FOX, complaining, FOX did remove the promo from the air and its website and, in fact, FOX's website showed the topic of Judicial Watch and The National Law Journal was not going to be discussed tonight. However, at around 5:30 p.m. tonight, FOX began to rerun the promo and, again with no notice to Klayman or Judicial Watch, went on the air to discuss the Berkman article without Klayman. Additionally, the Clinton Administration would like nothing more than to harm Judicial Watch financially so it cannot pursue its 43 cases against it. If Klayman had gone on the air, he would have said that the money which is spent on education and fundraising not only educates the American people -- as legal documents, interim reports, and other materials are sent to our hundreds of thousands of supporters via mail and posted on our website -- but that a good part of the money which is generated from these efforts then goes to Judicial Watch cases, which are 43 in number. Klayman also would have said that the Form 990 which was discussed was for 1998 and Judicial Watch's financial picture for 1999 and 2000 should be far different, since Judicial Watch is no longer a start-up operation as it was earlier and plans to go to trial in several cases in 2000, and its financial needs are huge. In short, in an apparent effort to deflect criticism about its reporting on liberal Jesse Jackson, FOX News played games with conservatives Klayman and Judicial Watch, and its conduct is regrettable. Anyone who wants to ask Larry Klayman and Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton questions about Judicial Watch's 990 Form, or the Berkman article, or anything else, please call in to Judicial Watch's weekly radio program, "The Judicial Watch Report," on Saturday, December 4, 1999, on Radio America between 12:00 noon-2:00 p.m. (EST) at 1-800-510-8255. | |