Wow. As someone who has worked in television production, blogs and has certainly called out a few unethical businesses myself, I am quite disappointed and angered to see an innocent blogger getting sued by a bullying production TV company.

It all began when blogger Leslie Richard who is the owner of an eco-fashion business, wrote about her experience (in this article) with a company called Vision Media Television who offered to do a special on her and her clothing line that would be seen by millions on CNN, PBS and all over Europe. It wasn't until they claimed that she had to pay over $24,000 in hard costs so that they could create this segment.

That is utterly ridiculous! Any reputable production company would never make YOU pay to be on their networks and especially to the tune of 24K. As someone who felt it was unethical, she did what most of us bloggers do - took it to her blog so that she could save others from running into the same ordeal. With several other people getting hounded by this company, the Google searches rose quickly and soon hundreds of other eco-friendly businesses found her site too and began commenting with their experiences. In turn, Vision Media Television began threatening her and is now suing her for 20 MILLION in damages.

This brings up many issues and also questions the First Amendment and how bloggers are able to use free speech without crossing a "legal" line. The area is gray as the internet is still "new" in terms of laws applying to it.

As more people write about this story, I hope Vision Media Television realizes that they are only putting themselves in an even WORSE light than they already are in. This is NOT good for business guys...

I stumbled across an article published just a few days ago on NYTimes.com, which reaffirms how "shady" this company truly is. It seems that while they may not be a "scam" by legal definition, they certainly are misleading folks into believing that they are in fact connected with PBS (which PBS states specifically on their website that they are NOT) and while asking for that kind of money from green businesses/non profits -- it's just dispicable in my honest opinion. Again, if you are a reputable establishment, you will not produce content with the subject's money. That to me, is not a company that should be in business.

Have you ever called out a business you thought was unethical on your blog?