ABC News seeks dismissal of Beef Products' defamation lawsuit

ABC News on Wednesday asked a federal court to throw out claims it defamed a meat processor through a series of television reports about lean finely textured beef, a product that critics have dubbed "pink slime."

In court papers, lawyers for the U.S. network said a September lawsuit by Beef Products Inc (BPI) seeks to inhibit free speech. They said the lawsuit poses a challenge to the right of a news organization "to explore matters of obvious public interest -- what is in the food we eat and how that food is labeled."