Editing Primetime (American TV program) (section)

===Food Lion scandal===
One hidden-camera investigation, of south-eastern U.S. grocery chain [[Food Lion]], backfired when Food Lion sued ABC. Food Lion sued for trespass and breach of loyalty, claiming that the report was produced under deceptive pre-tenses, and ABC employees hired by Food Lion wearing hidden cameras filmed other Food Lion employees without following proper notification procedures. Food Lion did not sue for libel, as the one-year statute of limitations had already run by the time it received all the footage shot by ABC, and prior to receiving the footage, its attorneys believed it would be difficult to prove that ABC acted with [[actual malice]]. A jury awarded Food Lion $5.5 million, but later appeals by ABC to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit|Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals]] resulted in the damages reduced to $2.00. This scandal caused significant damage to Food Lion's business operations, leading to the closures of recently opened stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, affecting their plans for future expansion, all while generating negative media attention and financial losses for the company.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kirtley |first=Jane |url=https://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=3132 |title=Don't Pop That Cork |magazine=[[American Journalism Review]] |access-date=October 30, 2013 |date=January–February 2000 |issue=210}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Goulden |first1=Joseph C. |author1-link=Joseph C. Goulden |title=ABC's Food Lion Lies: A Study in TV Deception |url=http://www.aim.org/publications/special_reports/foodlion.html |access-date=March 28, 2024 |work=[[Accuracy in Media]] |date=1997 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031023043951/http://www.aim.org/publications/special_reports/foodlion.html |archive-date=October 23, 2003}}</ref>