Former local news anchor sues rival station for defamation over report he says portrayed him as a ‘child predator'

CNN

a day ago

A former local news anchor in Shreveport, Louisiana, has sued a rival station for defamation, accusing it of engaging in 'character assassination' after it ran a report he says portrayed him as a 'child predator.'
Emmy Award-winning journalist Bill Lunn, a former anchor for ABC affiliate KTBS, filed the lawsuit late last month against rival local outlet KTAL, its married co-anchors Daniel and Jacquelyn Jovic, and its owner, Nexstar. The complaint was filed almost one year after Lunn resigned from KTBS in advance of a KTAL report claiming Lunn had been busted by 'vigilantes targeting men seeking to prey on underage girls.'
Lunn had been cleared by a police investigation, and no charges were filed — a fact KTAL included in its report. Nevertheless, the former anchor said in his lawsuit that KTAL and Nexstar failed to 'vet, edit or confirm allegations that labeled him a child predator.'
Lunn resigned to spare his employer any embarrassment, he said in the lawsuit, 'with the intention and hope to return to work once the facts cleared his name.' However, the lawsuit alleges the KTAL report ultimately 'ended his career in broadcast journalism.'
The former anchor alleged that KTAL targeted him because of their two stations' rivalry in the Shreveport market. 'Jovic and his co-Defendants seized on the opportunity to bend the facts to their will in an attempt (to) take out or otherwise substantially interfere with the market leader and their direct competitor, Lunn,' the lawsuit alleges.
Lunn downloaded the popular dating app Tinder on May 27, 2024, and was sent a message of 'interest' from a person he thought was a 19-year-old woman the same day, according to the lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, Lunn was asked to text the woman on her cellphone, after which she 'initiated a sexually explicit exchange.'
Two days after the initial message, the supposed 19-year-old invited Lunn to her home, where he was ushered in by a woman. Upon entry, Lunn was 'beaten and robbed of his belongings' by a trio of men.
After escaping the house, Lunn returned home and, with the help of another person, called the Shreveport Police Department, according to the lawsuit. Once police arrived, Lunn recounted the night's events and provided his cellphone to aid in law enforcement's investigation, at which point he noticed that the woman had edited her age in a text message from 19 to 16, the lawsuit says. Her Tinder profile, however, still showed her as being 19 years old.
In the days that followed, Daniel Jovic, the rival reporter, contacted a police source to inquire whether Lunn had been found with a 14-year-old girl and whether he had fled from the police, according to the lawsuit. Jovic was told Lunn did not run, that no arrests were made and that the investigation was ongoing, the lawsuit says.
Jovic interviewed the trio of men for a newscast he led with his co-anchor and wife, Jacquelyn, which was broadcast on June 3, 2024. According to the lawsuit, that newscast allegedly 'lied, misrepresented, and ignored the evidence in their possession,' relying on 'an interview conducted with a wholesale lack of diligence.'
'After meeting them, Jovic engaged in leading and calculated questioning eventually eliciting some 'facts' that, despite the source and Jovic's own training and knowledge as to their questionable truth or veracity, culminated in the false broadcast that derailed Lunn's career,' the lawsuit read.
The next day, Daniel Jovic published a story on KTAL's website, revealing the group of local so-called predator hunters 'pretending to be an underage girl in an effort to 'catfish' local men who are allegedly trying to meet up for sex.'
Despite publishing two subsequent stories — one reporting Lunn's denials and another reporting that police cleared Lunn — KTAL and the Jovic couple have 'never acknowledged, corrected, or retracted their numerous defamatory broadcasts in which they named Petitioner a child predator,' the lawsuit says. A Nexstar lawyer told Lunn's attorney that the company 'stands by the journalist and the stories as presented,' according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not list a specific dollar amount in damages sought by Lunn. However, he 'demands a trial by jury' in order to 'hold these Defendants accountable for their actions.'
Nexstar, KTAL, Daniel Jovic and Jacquelyn Jovic did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.