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View Full Version : Karen Faye asks Dimond for a retraction. If not - LAWSUIT!



Ellie
10-09-2004, 08:15 PM
LOL @ the video commentary here: http://www.thejusticesystem.net

from MJJsource

KAREN FAYE DEMANDS CORRECTION FROM COURT TV

FROM: The Law Offices Of Jerry L. Steering

September 2, 2004

TO:
Henry Schleiff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Art Bell, President and Chief Operating Officer
Courtroom Television Network LLC
600 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Re: Demand for correction of statements pursuant to Cal. Civil Code § 48a for Court TV broadcasts of August 16, 2004 and August 17, 2004 on Catherine Crier Live, by Catherine Crier and Court TV Executive Investigative Editor Diane Dimond.

Gentlemen:

Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 48a, on behalf of my client, Karen Faye, I hereby formally demand that your company, Courtroom Television Network LLC (“Court TV”), retract and correct the statements described below, made during Court TV’s broadcasts of Catherine Crier Live on August 16, 2004 and August 17, 2004, by Catherine Crier and Diane Dimond.

On August 16, 2004, during the broadcast of Catherine Crier Live, Court TV’s Catherine Crier and Diane Dimond discussed a “leaked” report by the California Attorney General’s Office regarding that office’s investigation of entertainer Michael Jackson’s allegations that Mr. Jackson was subjected to unreasonable force during his arrest and booking at the Santa Barbara County Jail on November 20, 2003. In a nutshell, that report, dated August 2, 2004, consisted of a three page letter from California Bureau of Investigation Chief Martin A. Ryan , addressed to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson, that concluded:

“In summary, this investigation did not uncover verifiable information that Mr. Jackson was injured at the hands of Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department personnel and no criminal misconduct on the part of Sheriff’s personnel was identified. Should additional witnesses or viable information come forward in the future concerning these allegations, CBI will respond.”

The only reference to Karen Faye in the August 2, 2004 letter to Sheriff Anderson was a two sentence paragraph stating:

“Mr. Jackson’s first complaint of pain was reported to his personal makeup artist and hair stylist on December 7, 2003. He explained that the pain was a result of the handcuffing in Santa Barbara.”

The August 2, 2004 letter never mentions Karen Faye by name.

During the August 16, 2004 broadcast of Catherine Crier Live, Diane Dimond stated:

“Court TV has learned exclusively that much time was spent trying to find and question this woman; Karen Faye ; Michael Jackson’s loyal longtime makeup artist. She’s seen here in a recent FOX special. According to confidential sources close to the investigation, informants told the AG’s office it was Faye who actually applied makeup to create the bruise seen here on Jackson’s arm, and that it was all smoke and mirrors.

While that allegation is not addressed specifically by the AG’s office, their final conclusion is that there are no facts, no evidence, to back-up Michael Jackson’s claim.”

In responding to a question about how much the California Attorney General’s investigation of Mr. Jackson’s complaint cost the taxpayers, Diane Dimond commented that the information on cost has not been released, and that: “. . . it hasn’t even been released whether they [the California Attorney General’s Office / California Bureau of Investigation] got to that makeup artist or not.”

On the following day, August 17, 2004, during Court TV’s broadcast of Catherine Crier Live, Catherine Crier commented on Karen Faye’s response to the above-referenced August 16, 2004 broadcast, stating, among other things, that Karen Faye denied the allegations that she used makeup to create the appearance of a bruise on Michael Jackson’s arm, and that she would be pursuing a retraction of the August 16, 2004 statements . When asked by Catherine Crier what Diane Dimond had to say about that statement by Karen Faye, Diane Dimond replied:

“Well, I haven’t heard that we need to make a retraction, but I’ll tell you exactly what we said yesterday. We didn’t say that Karen Faye put makeup on his arm . . . to make a bruise. We said that the Attorney General’s people, who were investigating Michael Jackson’s . . . ma, uh . . . the police brutality allegations, were trying to find her to talk to her about that. They’d heard that she’d gone to a dinner party and bragged that she had put the makeup on that arm. But as we also said yesterday, as you remember, we don’t think that the investigators ever got to talk to her. Very few people in the Jackson camp cooperated. Not even Michael Jackson would give a statement to the investigators.”

Thereafter during that August 17, 2004 broadcast, Catherine Crier also stated that: “ . . . nobody from the Jackson camp really was giving statements.”

Diane Dimond then commented that the Attorney General’s Office’s / CBI’s investigation into Mr. Jackson’s complaints looked into the allegation / issue of whether the photograph shown in both broadcasts of Mr. Jackson’s arm, showing redness and bruising, was a fraud , but that the Jackson camp’s refusal to cooperate with that investigation essentially prevented investigation of that issue. As stated by Diane Dimond on August 17, 2004:

“They were looking into that. They were looking into that, into that allegation, but when people don’t cooperate and you can’t get it either way, you know, what are you going to say.”

The above-referenced statement “According to confidential sources close to the investigation, informants told the AG’s office it was Faye who actually applied makeup to create the bruise seen here on Jackson’s arm, and that it was all smoke and mirrors” is not true, and demand is hereby made that your company correct the broadcast of that statement. Karen Faye had nothing to do with applying makeup to Michael Jackson’s forearm, and to her knowledge, no one did so. In addition, your company’s “smoke and mirrors” comment has now apparently falsely and maliciously created the impression in the minds of your viewers, and in minds of the public generally, that Karen Faye participated in some sort of scheme to create a false impression that Mr. Jackson had been subjected to unreasonable force by members of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department.

The above-referenced statements: “Court TV has learned exclusively that much time was spent trying to find and question this woman; Karen Faye; Michael Jackson’s loyal longtime makeup artist.”, and “We said that the Attorney General’s people, who were investigating Michael Jackson’s . . . ma, uh . . . the police brutality allegations, were trying to find her to talk to her about that. They’d heard that she’d gone to a dinner party and bragged that she had put the makeup on that arm. But as we also said yesterday, as you remember, we don’t think that the investigators ever got to talk to her. Very few people in the Jackson camp cooperated. Not even Michael Jackson would give a statement to the investigators.”, are false, and demand is hereby made that those statements be corrected.

The California Attorney General’s Office’s / California Bureau of Investigation had no difficulty locating, contacting or interviewing Karen Faye, and she did submit to a long and detailed interview by them.

Karen Faye had not “gone to a dinner party and bragged that she had put the makeup on that arm”.

The false impression of Karen Faye created by these statements was compounded by the above-referenced statements: “. . . it hasn’t even been released whether they [the California Attorney General’s Office / California Bureau of Investigation] got to that makeup artist or not”, and “we don’t think that the investigators ever got to talk to her.” Demand is also hereby made that your company correct the immediately preceding statement.

Demand is also hereby made that your company correct the following above-referenced statement, as none of the facts shown in that statement are true:

”According to confidential sources close to the investigation, informants told the AG’s office it was Faye who actually applied makeup to create the bruise seen here on Jackson’s arm, and that it was all smoke and mirrors.”

Your company’s broadcasts, above-referenced, have caused Karen Faye to suffer great injury to her reputation, both personally and professionally, great injury to her business and profession, and great mental and emotional pain, distress and anguish. We believe that minimally, that your company acted with a reckless disregard for the truth, and with actual malice toward Karen Faye.

Very truly yours,

Jerry L. Steering

Ellie
11-09-2004, 10:32 AM
Controversy Brewing Over False Statements from Dimond, Court TV – MJEOL Bullet #194

A controversy is brewing between Diane Dimond of Court TV and Karen Faye, Michael Jackson’s long time friend and makeup artist. On August 18 2004, Court TV’s Crier Live ran a video report from tabloid reporter Diane Dimond in which Dimond claimed the Attorney General of California’s investigators received information from “informants” that Faye falsified the huge bruise on Jackson’s arm. Not only were these defamatory statements false, but they were statements which paint Faye as a criminal.

This is what was said by Dimond during the Aug 17 report:



DIANE DIMOND [video report]: Court TV has learned, exclusively, much time was spent trying to find and question this woman: Karen Faye, Michael Jackson’s loyal, long-time make-up artist.

She’s seen here in a recent Fox special. According to confidential sources close to the investigation, informants told the AG’s office it was Faye who had actually applied makeup to create the bruise seen here on Jackson’s arm. And that it was all smoke and mirrors.
(see video)


Without providing the names of any of these “informants” or the name of the “source(s)” who “exclusively” told Court TV that the AG was searching for Faye, Dimond rather recklessly left a serious allegation of illegal activity hang out there for the public.

The situation escalated to a point where some private observers of the “case” used these alleged “informants” and their unfounded allegation--spread by Dimond--to claim a conspiracy to defame and defraud the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept, not to mention lying to police investigators on Faye’s part. They didn’t know at the time that what Dimond was reporting was inaccurate.

Today (September 10, 2004), Karen Faye released a statement and a letter sent from her attorneys to Court TV demanding a retraction of the slanderous statements broadcast by Court TV.

In her public statement, Faye says:


“I am a working mom, trying to make ends meet, like any other private citizen. I have been publicly accused of criminal activity: providing false information to law enforcement officers.”
(see Statement from Karen Faye Sept 10 2004)


And, yes, these are incredibly serious allegations. Not only were Dimond and her “confidential”, unnamed sources wrong when they claim the Attorney General couldn’t find and didn’t talk to Faye, but they were also wrong in claiming that Faye engaged in illegal activities surrounding Jackson’s bruises. This was pointed out in the scolding letter to Court TV from Faye’s attorneys:


Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 48a, on behalf of my client, Karen Faye, I hereby formally demand that your company, Courtroom Television Network LLC (“Court TV”), retract and correct the statements described below, made during Court TV’s broadcasts of Catherine Crier Live on August 16, 2004 and August 17, 2004, by Catherine Crier and Diane Dimond.

…The above-referenced statement “According to confidential sources close to the investigation, informants told the AG’s office it was Faye who actually applied makeup to create the bruise seen here on Jackson’s arm…”, is not true, and demand is hereby made that your company correct the broadcast of that statement.
(see Karen Faye Demands Apology from Court TV)


As Faye herself has already said, she had absolutely nothing to do with applying anything to Jackson’s arm. As a matter of fact, observers say that the “makeup rumor” is totally ridiculous and a desperate attempt to explain away the matching bruises on both of Jackson’s arms.

Faye’s attorneys continue to rip into Court TV:


Karen Faye had nothing to do with applying makeup to Michael Jackson’s forearm, and to her knowledge, no one did so. In addition, your company’s “smoke and mirrors” comment has now apparently falsely and maliciously created the impression in the minds of your viewers, and in minds of the public generally, that Karen Faye participated in some sort of scheme to create a false impression that Mr. Jackson had been subjected to unreasonable force by members of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department.


Because of these defamatory lies, Faye has suffered as blow to her reputation. Her lawyers say, in their letter to Court TV:


Your company’s broadcasts, above-referenced, have caused Karen Faye to suffer great injury to her reputation, both personally and professionally, great injury to her business and profession, and great mental and emotional pain, distress and anguish. We believe that minimally, that your company acted with a reckless disregard for the truth, and with actual malice toward Karen Faye.

The statements have yet to be corrected by Court TV as of this writing.

http://site.mjeol.com/policeabuse1.jpg

Faye is a private citizen. One can’t get away with citing the first amendment and the California shield law as protection from damaging her reputation after accusing her of engaging in illegal acts.

What are the ramifications of this demand for a retraction? Some observers say that this could affect the coverage of the Jackson “case”. At the very least, it could cause certain reporters to stop speculating wildly and be more cautious when blindly reporting things with no confirmation.

It’s quite clear that Faye was talked to by the AG investigators, so Dimond’s “sources” were wrong about that. It is also clear that none of the “makeup” allegations were even addressed in the AG’s letter, which could lead one to believe that Dimond’s “sources” made that up as well.

Will Dimond be removed from covering the Jackson case? Who knows. However, some have already admitted that they were puzzled as to why Dimond has been allowed sole rights and free reign in covering the Jackson pre-trial hearings. She is not a judge (or former judge). She is not an attorney (former prosecutor or defense attorney). She is not a legal expert either, obviously.

Thus, the question is while other cases are being covered heavily by former prosecutors, defense attorneys, law professors, legal analysts, and even judges, why has Court TV allowed Dimond to be their ‘go to’ person concerning the Jackson “case”? Time will tell.

Faye’s statement, however, provides more insight as to the larger picture:


“…The First Amendment was written to ensure the rights of the media to speak freely. It was also written to protect people like you and me. I do not think it was ever meant to be used a shield to protect disingenuous members of the media from accepting the responsibility that comes along with every freedom we have as Americans. We must try to find some common ground between the rights of individuals and the rights of the media. We cannot continue to just stand by and allow the monopolizing media to distort the truth so they can manipulate and force their personal agenda upon us.”

Stay tuned.

-MJEOL

Floella
11-09-2004, 03:49 PM
WOW