Appeals Court Reverses Itself On Libel Suit Against Times

TWO appeals court judges, acknowledging ``a mistake in judgment,'' reversed themselves and threw out a writer's libel suit against The New York Times.

The judges voted earlier to allow the lawsuit by investigative reporter Dan Moldea, who alleged that a review of his book by the Times libeled him and ruined his reputation. The new ruling recognizes that book reviewers and other critics ``must be given the constitutional `breathing space' appropriate to the genre,'' Judge Harry Edwards wrote for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In February, Edwards and Judge Patricia Wald ruled that Mr. Moldea could proceed with his $10 million lawsuit over the review of his book ``Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football.'' But in their May 3 opinion, the judges sided with Chief Judge Abner Mikva, who dissented on the original ruling. Distrust seen between business and press

A SURVEY of journalists and executives in the US found deep distrust on both sides concerning the news coverage of business.

The study by The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University found that most business people think journalists are unfair and often make mistakes. Journalists think the opposite. It also said more than a third of the business journalists think the news media sometimes treat business unfairly. And more than two-thirds of business people said they don't always tell the truth to reporters. The study was released May 3 at the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Inc. MTV's Asia channels

VIACOM INC.'s MTV Networks has ended its Asian transmission deal with Star TV but plans to launch two wholly owned MTV channels for the Asian market later this year. MTV has provided an English-language network to Asia since September 1991 through Star.

One new MTV channel will be in English for young people in South Asia, India, the Philippines, and elsewhere. The second will be a Mandarin Chinese-language service aimed mainly at young people in Taiwan, Singapore, and China.

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