Latest news with #BillLunn
CNN
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Former local news anchor sues rival station for defamation over report he says portrayed him as a ‘child predator'
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.
CNN
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Former local news anchor sues rival station for defamation over report he says portrayed him as a ‘child predator'
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.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Louisiana news anchor falsely accused of preying on minor girl sues competitor
A Louisiana news anchor who resigned shortly before a competitor reported that he had been busted for compromising texts by 'vigilantes targeting men seeking to prey on underage girls' is pursuing a defamation lawsuit after police determined he had actually arranged to meet someone he believed was a young adult woman – then was violently robbed. Bill Lunn's lawsuit asserts that he and his employers at Shreveport's KTBS news station were in direct competition with their counterparts at KTAL when the latter outlet published a June 2024 report that unduly 'ended his career in broadcast journalism' and provided 'a rare example of actionable … character assassination'. As the suit puts it, the Emmy-winning Lunn, 59, was single and had logged on to the Tinder dating app 'used by millions of adult Americans' when he received 'interest' from someone who purported to be a 19-year-old woman. The user 'initiated a sexually explicit exchange' with Lunn over text messages before inviting him to a home – he went over and, after being allowed in by a woman, 'was beaten and robbed of his belongings' by three men identified as Antonio Coleman, Kautario Grigsby and Kameron Kennon, according to the suit filed in Louisiana's state court system. Lunn says he subsequently fled the home, called police with a neighbor's help, told responding officers what had happened, and allowed them to take his cellphone to aid their investigation. At that point, his suit says, Lunn realized a text message from the woman with whom he thought he was speaking had been edited to read that she was aged 16 – which, if true, would have made his correspondence illegal because she would be a minor. After investigators took Lunn's statement and allowed him to leave without charging him 'with any crime,' KTAL journalist Dan Jovic asked police whether the KTBS journalist had been caught with a 14-year-old girl and ran from the cops, an officer said in an affidavit cited by the suit. Police told Jovic that an investigation was ongoing, but Lunn had not run from authorities, and there had been no arrests. Jovic nonetheless interviewed Coleman, Kennon and Grigsby, who claimed that they were collectively 'pretending to be' a 15-year-old girl on the MeetMe app as 'part of their mission to catch men' trying to sexually abuse minors. Jovic and KTAL posted a story about the men and their alleged 'vigilante efforts' using MeetMe, whose minimum age requirement is 13. Lunn, aware the report was coming and worried it would embarrass his superiors, resigned from KTBS shortly before the piece came out but hoped to return 'once the facts cleared his name', the lawsuit added. Coleman and Grigsby were later arrested on suspicion of using dating apps to lure 'rich dudes' other than Lunn before beating and robbing the victims, according to the lawsuit and reporting from KTBS. KTBS also reported that Shreveport police had 'cleared Lunn of any wrongdoing, … no charges were filed', and the allegations against him were debunked when investigators found 'altered text messages to make it appear' falsely as if he had done something illegal. Lunn sued Jovic as well as KTAL's owner Nexstar Media days ahead of the first anniversary of his resignation, demanding damages for what he maintained was defamation, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress, among other grounds. Jovic's wife and co-anchor Jacquelyn Jovic is also named as a defendant after she helped introduce KTAL's interview of Coleman and Grigsby, as the lawsuit notes. In his lawsuit, Lunn says he 'believes strongly in the newsgathering protections afforded [to] journalists in the United States' whether through the US constitution or in rulings issued by federal and state courts. Yet Lunn's lawsuit says being publicly presented as 'a child predator' when he was 'nothing more than a decent man caught up in a criminal scheme and completely innocent' had prompted him to take KTAL to court, especially after the station refused to correct, retract or clarify the record. Lunn 'has sustained severe reputational damage', his legal team says in his lawsuit. 'It will take years, if not decades, to rehabilitate his personal and professional reputation, if ever.' Neither Nexstar nor the Jovics had comment Monday about Lunn's lawsuit.
