AMERICAN cable television news network, FOX News has formed an alliance with Impact, hosted by Jamaican journalist, Cliff Hughes, to cover what is shaping up to be a sensational trial of the alleged Washington snipers — the teenage Jamaican, Lee Boyd Malvo, and American ex-soldier, John Muhammad.

The alliance with Hughes’ Impact, aired weekly on CVM Television, local cable channels here and Channel 73 in the New York tri-state area, was inspired by a one-hour special — ‘The Potter and the Clay’: The Real Lee Malvo. The special, aired first on August 3, 2003, was widely acclaimed as depicting another crucial side of the Washington sniper story.

Jamaican media ‘scooped’ their American counterparts by being first to carry Una James’ take on the Lee Malvo story. James, Malvo’s mother, was interviewed by Ian Boyne on Profile, aired on Television Jamaica. NBC reportedly bought footage from the interview.

Impact then followed up with a gripping story tracing Malvo’s early years in rural Jamaica before he moved to Antigua and then to the United States.

Fox News anchor, Tracey Neale, who is in Jamaica as part of a production team out of Washington DC, said: “When we saw the Impact programme, our entire focus shifted. We came here intent on interviewing Una James. I lived through the sniper attacks, as I live in Washington, but your work has broadened our perspective. This is something the people in the United States need to see.”

The Fox team, with the help of the Impact production staff, led by producers Sonya Stewart and Carolyn Warren, will be interviewing several of the people sourced by Impact for its special due to be aired across the USA on October 3, four days before the scheduled start of the trial.

The American company has also been given access to hours of footage filmed by Impact for ‘The Potter and The Clay’.

Fox News will, in return, partner with Impact and Nationwide in covering the trial, which is set for Chesapeake, Virginia.