Inqlings: Suing Fox29, IBEW says report got wires crossed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090201_Inqlings__Suing_Fox29__IBEW_says_report_got_wires_crossed.html

By Michael Klein

Inquirer Columnist
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' shorts are in a twist.

The union says it was defamed last summer in a Fox29 report about alleged racial intimidation by an electrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The station identified the worker, a white man accused of hanging a noose near the locker of an African American colleague, as an IBEW member.

Not true, Local 98 says in a suit in Common Pleas Court.

Lawyer George Bochetto of Bochetto & Lentz says Fox29 wanted "to sensationalize the recent media coverage concerning minority membership . . . in Philadelphia's labor unions." The complaint spells out IBEW efforts to train minority workers.

Children's Hospital fired the worker, William Gould of Northeast Philadelphia, who according to records faces a court date March 2. Gould told the Philadelphia Daily News in September that it was a "dumb practical joke." The alleged victim was not identified.

The suit against Fox29, seeking more than $50,000, says IBEW received "a flood" of criticism. IBEW says that it contacted Fox29, which retracted the story "many days later" - but that statements continued to appear on the station's Web site.

Fox29 attorney Michael Twersky of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads would not comment on the suit.