"While we felt the incident in question was disturbing, it was the only scene of physical punishment in the hundreds of hours of footage that ABC News reviewed." That was the excuse the Disney-owned network gave in April 2006 when, after airing an episode of Primetime that showed footage of a teenage girl being beaten, viewers called and emailed in outrage about the network's decision not to step in to help.

That excuse was not good enough, at least for 20-year-old Kyle Nelson, then 15, who was pummeled by her stepfather in footage taped inside their home by ABC. Nelson is filing suit against ABC, the Walt Disney Co., network president David Westin, and even anchor Diane Sawyer, claiming they acted with "wanton and reckless behavior" and "gross negligence" by not alerting authorities to the abuse.

The Primetime episode, called "Stepfamilies in Crisis," aired the footage at least three years after it was shot; four days after it aired, Sawyer interviewed Kyle on Good Morning America, where she said she forgave her father.

But she hasn't forgiven ABC, which, her attorney Matthew Norfolk, will claim "immunity and a constitutional right provided under the First Amendment to broadcast or report to America what happened in Kyle's home."

Maybe. But then he goes off the deep end.

By having video cameras in the home, ABC turned Kyle's home into a reality TV show, argues Norfolk, and for that it is at fault not just for not stepping in, but for fostering the abusive environment in the first place.

"But this lawsuit is not about news agencies' rights and protections under the First Amendment," says Norfolk. "In this case, ABC didn't report the news, but rather created a horrific story. Primetime's 'Stepfamilies in Crisis' segment was more akin to a reality show filmed in a controlled or artificial setting.

"ABC, with its video cameras strategically placed throughout Kyle's home, created the atmosphere and environment — literally set the national stage — for Kyle to be a victim of emotional and sometimes physical abuse by her father and stepmother, who we believe were dead-set on getting their 15 minutes of fame, proving a point about Kyle and showing America who was boss in Kyle's home."

Had it not been for all those cameras, Kyle's parents would have never sought to get famous through beating their kid.