ABC News is on the verge of facing a lawsuit from Toyota over a news report that it has since admitted to modifying footage in a way that was misleading. Toyota has notified ABC News that they are seeking a retraction of the story and apology for misleading the public in the report by Brian Ross.
According to a report by Gawker, Toyota ’s general counsel has sent a letter to ABC News president David Westin, directly requesting for the news outlet to apologize for what Toyota believes was a misleading news report.
Prior to Toyota’s counsel sending a letter to ABC News, the automaker made it very clear through several channels that they felt the video made the situation look far worse than reality. The main concern regarding the video’s authenticity was based on the fact that there was a two-second clip in which the tachometer revved while the vehicle was allegedly displaying unintended acceleration, when in reality the shot was taken with the vehicle parked.
ABC News’ official explanation for the use of the shot was that the original shot was shaky, and they replaced it with another shot to which was more clear. ABC News spokeswoman, Emily Lezner said, “This was a misjudgment made in the editing room. They should have left the shaky shot in. But I want to make clear that the two-second shot that was used did not change the outcome of the report in any way.”
ABC News switched the video that was available online and removed the incorrect clip after the authenticity was questioned.
Toyota has also taken serious issue with the overall test itself, saying that it was an inaccurate representation of real world possibilities due to the rewiring completed by Professor Gilbert, in addition to the featured doctored footage, it failed to mention that Gilbert had been paid by attorneys involved in litigation with Toyota and ABC News rushed the report in order to deliver it before the congressional hearings without giving Toyota a chance to review or respond to the testing.
Toyota ended their letter to ABC News with a not-so-veiled threat, “Please also note that Toyota reserves the right to take any and every appropriate step to protect and defend reputation of our company and its products from irresponsible and inaccurate claims.”
References
1. ‘Toyota demands retraction…’ view
2. ‘Toyota blasts ABC for rigged…’ view
