MH370: American TV exec fired for charity initiative

American broadcasting television network Fox Broadcasting Company fired one of its veteran executives for using the company’s email to raise money for families of MH370 passengers.

Darlene Tipton, who was vice president of standards and practices for the Fox Cable Networks Group, claimed she had wanted to arrange swift financial aid to the next-of-kin and loved ones to spare them from lengthy court fights.

Tipton had emailed Sarah Bajc, an American whose boyfriend, Philip Wood, was a passenger on the Malaysia Airlines flight and who has made frequent TV appearances since the plane’s March 8 disappearance.

According to a report by Associated Press, Tipton said she wanted to raise money for families ‘to give them immediate relief” as otherwise “they could be in court for years”.

However, a condition of accepting the money she hopes to raise is that recipients must waive the right to seek legal remedy.

" It isn’t right for the families to seek money through legal channels if they are receiving it through contributions," she was quoted saying.

Tipton reportedly told Bajc she could potentially raise more than USD15 million if she waived the right to seek money via the courts.

Fox spokesperson Scott Grogin said that Tipton's "conduct and communications" violated company policy and confirmed her dismissal on April 9, after more than 25 years at Fox.

The report added that Tipton is planning to sue Fox for wrongful termination and will continue her initiative through soliciting contributions from crowdfunding website GoFundMe.

The idea for the fundraising effort reportedly stemmed from Tipton’s writer and producer husband, Ken during a hospital stay at Los Angeles last month shortly after flight MH370 disappeared.

He said that while he was under medication, he had hallucinations of being with the plane’s passengers and the power of his visions spurred him and his wife to try to help.

“She wanted to do it because it could be done,” he said. “So why not try?”